Mas Ysa - Seraph

 

Mas Ysa

Seraph

2015

Seraph is the first major label release from Thomas Arsenault going by the moniker Mas Ysa. Heavy laden with synths the album skips between the 80s pop it's instrumentation comes from and intense art rock. What is really powerful on this album though is the lyrics. Sung in a very shakey style like his voice is going to crack at any second gives the songs an immediacy like they are just holding on so you better listen now. There is no sense of oldness dispute the heavy use of synths throughout the album, everything is entirely fresh and new. The music has that excitement that so many artists try to emulate but never quite reach, he changes rhythms on a whim and it just works. There is no where Mas Ysa is not willing to go in service of the song, he takes off any constraints of genre, mood or tone. Seraph can float from sadness to joy, light to dark almost at will and within tracks. "Suffer" has a light upbeat sound to it's music but the lyrics are so dark and come across as a drunken conversation late at night. Some of the more experimental (used loosely since much of the album is quite experimental) tracks like "Seraph" and "Service" focus more on creating interesting melodies and percussion progressions through the use of the synth rather than crafting well thought out out lyrics. 

Seraph is wildly honest with itself, it never comes across as pretentious or trying to be anything that it is not even though it is not what you normally hear. "Gun" a track where Arsenault collaborates in a sing and response style with Nicole Miglis of Hundred Waters doesn't quite come off as well as when Mas Ysa is going it alone. "Margartia" the second track ont he record warbles and shakes in the very best way, it changes from something quite odd into an almost dance track at time. More than anything Seraph is such a great surprise. With each new track you find something interesting yet still great to listen to. The music never comes down to creating art just for arts sake, but rather creating art while still making something listenable. Do not sleep on Mas Ysa and Seraph this is really something great and one you do not want to miss. 

8.9 out of 10