Secret Emchy Society -- Queen of Assholes
REVIEW: Secret Emchy Society has never sounded more confident in their gothic honky-tonk than on Queen of Assholes -- an album that celebrates charting your own course.
It was a thrill to see Cindy Emch unleash these songs at our Rainbow Rodeo Live show last weekend. Emch delivers her songs with ease, unfurling her tales of hard-up characters and supernatural occurrences with roguish aplomb. Her new album Queen of Assholes is Emch at her best: whether she's commemorating her punk house days, declaiming about the romance of touring, or taking a stand for herself, Emch has never been more confident.
The Society is as sharp as ever as well. Their trademark gothic honky-tonk is played with a sort of shambling swagger – life may be hard and disappointing, but it also takes us on all kinds of left turns full of wonder and humor. "Went to a Party" and "Bears in the Lot" (destined for bar sing-alongs) call upon a dry wit honed by years of taking things in stride. And, of course, "Gay Cowboys" is an instant queer country classic, celebrating the road less traveled.
Meanwhile, the title track conveys a hard truth: the importance of standing up for yourself even when others get mad. But there's a flip side to that – facing social rejection. "Lavender Fields," the album closer, celebrates what it truly means to take a stand as a tribute to Patrick Haggerty, of Lavender Country. Today is the anniversary of his passing.
Secret Emchy Society – Official, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp
