Adam Gnade "Voicemails From The Great Satan"

In “Voicemails from the Great Satan,” author Adam Gnade and musician Demetrius Antuña forge a soundscape for all of our fears and frustrations in Trump’s America, as well as a voice for our ghosts. From its outset, the sense of heaviness and hopelessness is staggering. Though none of the release feels wholly positive, these pained sentiments are particularly prevalent in the first of the two tracks, entitled “Nighttime Suite.” America has been thrown into darkness, and with it has been swept Agnes, a character first met in Gnade’s novella, Locust House. Adam speaks in a tone that feels anguished, desperate, even bereaved, as if reciting a eulogy at the funeral of a country (“America, you broke our heart”). This is surrounded by the piercing wails of bowed guitars- suffering mourners moved to hysterics, and jarring drums/gongs- the rifle shots of a 21 gun salute. A laundry-list style recitation of anxieties is hurled at us, and we’re left wondering, “What will become of us in this apoca