Monday 2/15: Lady Dan—"I Am the Prophet"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the Austin, TX indie songwriter Lady Dan.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc. Three days of the week are free but you can get access to all five weekly posts by subscribing for $5/month via Substack or $2/month via our Patreon.
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the Austin, TX indie songwriter Lady Dan.
Lady Dan—"I Am the Prophet"
Eric Bennett:
No matter how solid a take I form on this song, I will never match how perfectly its vibe was captured by the Stereogum commenter who said it sounds like it could be used in one of the Pope-based miniseries on HBO. That said, this song is exactly my shit. It’s brooding, cinematic, and reminds me in a few ways of Angel Olsen. Not only does it recall the arid mood of her early records, but it also carries the cataclysmic power of her more recent efforts. The orchestral strings augment the track, keeping it from ever veering away from its holy stature. It makes me think of when I was small, and staring up at the high ceiling of the church my parents took me to, and feeling like it could be miles away.
Eli Enis:
This is an Eric song if ever I’ve heard one. But yeah it’s really cool. It kind of reminds me of Becca Mancari, Aldous Harding, Haley Heynderickx. That sort of majestic, suave, well-produced and effortlessly performed indie singer-songwriter stuff. But there’s an edge to this song that makes it sound like it could detonate into cascading fuzz guitars at any moment. It doesn’t really, but these really dramatic violin strokes come slashing in through the mix and suck up all the air in a really cool way. I dig, I dig.