The two new tracks by Devon Church, “What Is Consciousness?” and “Saint Teresa,” form a suite of paired opposites. The former is a dirge-like meditation on the Buddhist concept of samsara. “Saint Teresa,” meanwhile, is an upbeat whirlwind of rock n roll surrealism - and it neatly contains a complete version of “What Is Consciousness,” like the eye of a yin yang, as its middle section. It may take a moment to realize what you’re hearing though - the second time around, lyrics which were at first mournful and introspective are now belted out singalong style with Church’s wife and collaborator, Ada Roth. Set to vintage drum machines and cowboy chords strummed double time, slide guitar by indie rock guitar hero Delicate Steve completes the image of a pre-apocalyptic hauntological honkey tonk.
“What Is Consciousness” (also featuring Delicate Steve, this time ripping an anthemic, fuzzed-out solo during the song’s epic climax) was written while Church was wandering the wintry forests of Inwood Hill Park in upper Manhattan, contemplating the answer given by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in response to a student’s question: “if the self is illusory, what is it that is reborn in one’s next incarnation”? “Mostly your bad habits,” Trungpa chuckled.
In contrast, “Saint Teresa” was written during ‘the only real vacation I’ve ever had’ says Church, only half sarcastically. Composed on a remote, beautiful beach in Puerto Rico in February of 2020, whilst news of the US presidential campaign and the impending pandemic trickled in, the song is imbued with both apocalyptic urgency and a light hearted sense of gallows humor. Or, as Chogyam Trungpa put it, “cynicism and magic.”
Saint Teresa
Devon Church: vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, synthesizer, Farfisa organ, drum machine, percussion, Omnichord, melodica.
Steve Marion aka Delicate Steve: slide guitar
Ada Roth: vocals
What Is Consciousness?:
Devon: vocals, electric guitar, synthesizer, drum design, percussion.
Steve Marion aka Delicate Steve: Lead guitar
Ada Roth: vocals