Jana Hunter

Liturgy comes in many shapes, from sacrament to the more prosaic forms of social ritual. Music, of course, is another. Still, few musicians are able to imbue their art with the kind of prescribed circularity that feels revelatory rather than lazy. With her debut full-length, Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom,...

By Jason Heller

March 30, 2006

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Liturgy comes in many shapes, from sacrament to the more prosaic forms of social ritual. Music, of course, is another. Still, few musicians are able to imbue their art with the kind of prescribed circularity that feels revelatory rather than lazy. With her debut full-length, Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom, Texas songwriter Jana Hunter doesn't always succeed at mixing free-freaking folk with lo-fi hymns, but she crafts a gorgeous noise in the attempt. Not that there's anything explicitly religious about her songs. But like angels in the architecture, there's a host of holy whispers haunting her work, first heard on her vinyl-only split record with Devendra Banhart (who also made Heirs of Doom the debut release on his new Gnomensong imprint). Awash in echoes, perspectives and the sublimity of the occasional Casio, Hunter's sound is so big, it's invisible -- and yet so small, it's all you can focus on. You know, kind of like God.

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