{"id":3735,"date":"2015-08-13T09:50:06","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T13:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=3735"},"modified":"2015-08-25T14:22:16","modified_gmt":"2015-08-25T18:22:16","slug":"mas-ysa-seraph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/","title":{"rendered":"Mas Ysa <br>Seraph"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/mas_ysa-seraph.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3736\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/mas_ysa-seraph.jpg\" alt=\"Mas Ysa, Seraph\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/mas_ysa-seraph.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/mas_ysa-seraph-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>Seraph<\/i> (Downtown Records) is quite unlike any other record I can name. Any attempts to form expectations by lumping it in with this or that contemporary genre will only undermine your efforts to understand what Thomas Arsenault (a.k.a. Mas Ysa) is getting up to here. Certainly, there are echoes of chillwave and the widespread use of \u201980s-era drums and synths, but I choose to believe that\u2019s more a coincidence than an indication of any trendy intentions from Mr. Aresenault. This album is far more art than pop. It bears resemblance to the work of Jane Siberry, Joanna Newsom, and Rufus Wainwright\u2019s more operatic endeavors. Often, it\u2019s reminiscent of early Peter Gabriel, not so much in its sound, but in the methods behind Aresenault\u2019s mad emotions. (Though, there are moments when the vocal resemblance is uncanny.) The pop sometimes takes precedence over the art, but there are always elements that prevent you from getting too comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArrow\u201d is the album\u2019s shibboleth. It\u2019s one of the longer tracks, and it contains most of what you\u2019ll hear elsewhere. Arsenault struggles to convey the depth of his emotions with a warbling, breathy singing voice. A thin, unsettling, almost squeaky synth winds its way through the track. Then the beat drops like a heart attack and the track gets danceable, but it really doesn\u2019t make you want to dance. If the drums are big and the bass is loud, it\u2019s only to convey the size of Arsenault\u2019s love. And then that icky, sticky synth hits you in the spleen, not the crotch. It gets close to catharsis, but Arsenault is still singing fervently to get there.<\/p>\n<p>Mas Ysa\u2019s live performances feel like this too; I\u2019ve never seen a man put so much feeling into turning a few knobs. You might be compelled to jump up and down, but you\u2019ll have a hard time ignoring the figure convulsing on-stage. But if you give yourself over to the scene, you\u2019ll find something more unfathomable than the average dance party. Similarly, if you get through \u201cArrow\u201d and you still feel up to the challenge, there\u2019s ever more art and ever more cognitive dissonance awaiting you. Fortunately or otherwise, there\u2019s nothing I can write that would truly prepare you for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><i>Seraph<\/i> is quite unlike any other record I can name. Any attempts to form expectations by lumping it in with this or that contemporary genre will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,1235,1364],"class_list":["post-3735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-downtown-records","tag-mas-ysa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mas Ysa Seraph - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mas Ysa Seraph - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seraph is quite unlike any other record I can name. Any attempts to form expectations by lumping it in with this or that contemporary genre will\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-13T13:50:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-08-25T18:22:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/mas_ysa-seraph.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt Slaybaugh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt Slaybaugh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt Slaybaugh\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/69dcefd1eff3e1b280d984cf4ec4e568\"},\"headline\":\"Mas Ysa Seraph\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-13T13:50:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-25T18:22:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/\"},\"wordCount\":393,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/mas_ysa-seraph.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Album Review\",\"Downtown Records\",\"Mas Ysa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Album Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/mas-ysa-seraph\/\",\"name\":\"Mas Ysa Seraph - 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