The Land, The Water, The Sky

Black Belt Eagle Scout

Released on 10/02/2023 by Saddle Creek
Main artists: Black Belt Eagle Scout
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Singer and multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul taught herself guitar and drums from closely studying old VHS bootlegs of Hole and Nirvana (she also now plays bass, keyboard, percussion, organ, vibraphone, and piano). And while there's not an identical throughline from that music to her own as Black Belt Eagle Scout, there are clear echoes of the influence that the Pacific Northwest's landscape and culture has had on so many of the bands that have come out of or through it. During the beginning of the pandemic, Paul—who is Indigenous Swinomish and Iñupiaq—traveled from her adopted home in Portland back to her native home of Anacortes, Washington, near the Salish Sea and the Swinomish Reservation. And she paints a sonic portrait of, yes, the land, the water and the sky of the area on her third album. "On the River" magically conjures up the gentle, forward tumble of the water. Her voice is like sweet, thick fog on "Fancy Dance," and appealingly contrasted by chaotic rhythm and snaking guitar. "Salmon Stinta," which finds Paul joined by Native storyteller and violinist Swil Kanim as well as Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum (also an Anacortes native), uses dreamy, low and contemplative lyrics as a metaphor for swimming upstream to get what you desire. On "Blue"—as in, the blue of the sky and the ocean, but also a mood—she uses a strong and steady rhythm, like the reassurance of a heartbeat, and wide open guitar to project an expansiveness reminiscent of the kind, say, Pearl Jam can summon. Often, though, there are elements of Lush reimagined. The guitars shoegaze on "My Blood Runs Through This Land," the drums rumble in full of potency, and there is a thump and guitar call that is at once tribal and grungy. "I know you speak through me," Paul sings to her elders. "I feel it in the sound of water/ Touching all the rocks I feel. No one can takе this moment away 'cause/ My blood runs through this land." Her delivery is gentle, soft, confidential on "Sedna"—a tribute to the goddess of marine animals who, in Inuit mythology, was offered to the sea by her father. "Nobody sang it for me like I wanna sing it to you," Paul explains on "Nobody," referencing the representation she missed in music as a young girl but wants to offer to others now. Her sound, as well as her message of questioning how to find self-empowerment, dovetails with her contemporaries such as Soccer Mommy and Jay Som on songs like "Understanding" ("I know it's wrong to love everyone but myself") and the dreamy "Don't Give Up." And Paul manages to channel David Lynch's fictional skewed view of the Pacific Northwest on "Treeline," with its chill-inducing "oohs" and rolling drums. "I saw you standing in the treeline … body like a demon … When I sit this way/ I can't see you." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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The Land, The Water, The Sky

Black Belt Eagle Scout

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My Blood Runs Through This Land