The Walker sisters, Monika and Karen, have been twisting the concept of alternative music as The New Tarot for just over two years now. Over the course of two EPS, their self-titled debut and last summer’s Stella!, the New York duo and their four-piece backing band delighted as a frenetic sort of rock-synthpop beast. It’s a sound that demands its alt label if for no other reason than it’s so beyond genre that calling it “other” is really the only recourse.
On the band’s third and latest extended play, God of Science, they continue to stretch limits with distinct deftness and inventiveness. Bonkers lead single “Tell Me You Like Me” is alive with joy, bursting with brass and a jumping rhythm that recalls David Byrne and St. Vincent’s collaborative work with a youthful effervescence. “Heavy Metal” is a dreamy rumination on open consciousness, while “Kether” floats on psych-pop guitar structures. “Wait” demonstrates beautiful restraint, a touching tune that sounds like a ballsier Regina Spektor. “Solid Sun” smolders as piece of pure occult alt-rock, and the title track is a disarmingly gorgeous takedown of the modern concept of faith. “I won the lottery with an IQ of 40/ And we praise money, so I rule the world,” Karen sings on that closing track, the only song she wrote on the EP. “I’m fairly handsome, but extremely wealthy/ That makes me much more better than you.”
In fact, it’s that twisted concept of worship that drives much of the record’s themes. As Monika told Consequence of Sound:
“GOD OF SCIENCE _##__)$#+^+++++!!!++$+%*#(!!!
The world fascinates us.
It holds us in it’s tiny chains of light so that we do not let the darkness bother us and in that way, we are betrothed, almost enslaved to the light, caged by the light, as it were.
In these darkest and brightest of times, we are all meant to either be high flying evangelicals or these near-robot rational atheists; NIETZSCHE REIGNS – GOD IS DEAD and his Frankenstein corpse is walking around with a clipboard, making claims in advertisement studies and science magazines about the wonders of GMO and other ultimate ‘TRUTHS’ and ‘KNOWLEDGE’ and yet show me a scientist who doesn’t believe in the miracle of The Big Bang, or a biologist who knows that subtle but as yet unanswered Darwinian riddle; why must things survive in the first place, anyway? All these somethings from nothings?
We’ll believe in the MAGIC of social media; more views=more success. Our brains our hardwired to feed off of POSITIVE GROUP RESPONSE and that’s what we’re getting; instant social cognitive rewards with a much lower perceived risk factor. We’ll gladly throw our drunken prayers and even our fists into the glamour of our favorite team; but for gods sake, please don’t make us call it ‘sacred’. Because it is, everything is, but you’ll spoil the whole thing if you go on talking like that.
!!!(#*%+$++!!!+++++^+#$)__##_ ECNEICS FO DOG.”
It’s a heady but pertinent abstraction, and one that’s presented with irresistible charm and poetry on God of Science. Take a listen below.