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Anne Waldman - Your Devotee in Rags

SR-LP-001
Your Devotee in Rags is a missive to this age of patriarchal power. Its songs and poems are designed to specifically confront that power and hold it to account. Taking such activist inspiration from musicians like Lido Pimienta and Tanya Tagaq, musically YDIR blends acoustic and electronic genres, waltzes, laments and Pauls Boutique-era Beastie Boys mash-ups all with the intent of creating a new artistic headspace: sonic poetry. The cultural direction is forward, the earbuds open up the stereo field. Listening to YDIR is, in a word, empowering.

All tracks are available via streaming services everywhere. A limited run of bespoke LPs will begin shipping in mid-April. This is a collectible item from one of the great poets of the 20th century, showing that age can never slow her down.

Praise for Your Devotee in Rags:

“When Anne Waldman opens Your Devotee in Rags with the words “I ebb like the ocean” (on the track Hag of Beare), the legendary poet could well be describing the album itself, whose melodies and rhythms undulate keenly to entice the listener into its markedly dark soundscape, where we sit in intrigue through this compelling experiment in sonic poetry.

Waldman’s powerful wordsmithing is intuitively backed with diverse musical musings furnished by Andrew Whiteman of Broken Social Scene. Whiteman’s rolling percussion marches the eclectic music forward, thrusting Waldman’s bravely voiced poetry into the fore. Altogether, the album could be described as something of an artful manifesto, critiquing injustices across lands and ages, through to the present moment and place.” (Khodi Dill, The Grey Griot)

“As an album it is symbiotic. The sawtooth synthesizers bite in tandem with our protagonists’ chomping barbs. A familiar, telephone-like distortion frequently warms vocals and instruments alike. Drones and Sirens haunt from both ends of the frequency spectrum. It is a complete experience. A mature sense of structure skillfully coddles the raw chaos.

I predict the journey it takes each listener on will be totally unique, immeasurably useful and changing; thus, I would recommend this album to anyone.” (Luca de la Lune)