Saint Judas’ “a terrible year” Will Help Make This Year Better

Florida-based Saint Judas released their newest EP “a terrible year” today (January 28), and we have been excitedly anticipating this one for a while. “a terrible year” is such a special release that we knew before we had even finished listening to the first song that it needed to be reviewed and shared as far as we could get it.

Right off the bat, the first song “b i g // r i p” is an absolute bop. Within the first 30 seconds the listener can’t help but dance along. From the chorus, to the guitar tones, to the call and response section towards the end, this entire song is so fun. “b i g // r i p” is so energetic and upbeat that you actually almost forget that the song itself is not a happy one. While your head is popping along, Saint Judas is singing lines like “I guess that I deserve what I’ve got coming to me, are you lonely like me? It shouldn’t be so hard to tell someone you love them, I was wrong again…”, and you’re familiar with The Agency, musically upbeat songs combined with raw lyrics are definitely our cup of tea.

The next song, “bioluminescent blood ritual” prefaces with a sample from BoJack Horseman, where Todd is quoted saying “No! No, BoJack, just stop. You are all the things that are wrong with you. It's not the alcohol, or the drugs, or any of the shitty things that happened to you in your career, or when you were a kid. It's you. Alright? It's you. Fuck, man, what else is there to say?” Which, is a pretty heavy quote to set up a song with, even for someone who doesn’t know a lot about the show. The vocals then open this song to an airy, soothing kind of sadness; and while the drums on this track carry over a lot of similar upbeat energy we saw in “b i g // r i p”, the rest of the energy in this song is more muted and cold. Lyrics like “from the front porch I can hear you start to whisper / disappointment in your tone / recounting things I said from some stupid argument I don’t remember” paints the ever familiar feeling of lying awake at night, haunted by past conversations and experiences that could have gone better. The airy-ness of this song (especially the repeated, and elongated “under the moon” line) almost carries listeners along through the night; in the darkness, through the trees, past the fireflies, and all the way to the end of the song. All together this song is a really lovely and very visual experience.

The third song on the album, “spooky ghost noises” comes across as a haunting stream of consciousness, to the point where it’s difficult to even pick out specific lines to showcase. So much of it physically feels like the narrator is spiraling into a really dark place; lines like “Every I love you / said before / but everything is different now / and I don’t know who you are anymore / I’m overwhelmed / it’s hard to tell / where the fiction ends and you begin” almost pull the listener down with the weight of it all. The loop of the acoustic guitar throughout really gives space for the emotional unraveling to take place front and center in this song, which I think was really successful.

“Like turning off the TV” is more reminiscent of the upbeat energy we were first introduced to in the first song “b i g // r i p”. This song also continues with a lot of the crisp visuals like in the second track. Lines like “I’ll be pulling my teeth out of my mouth / it’s fucking freezing out here in the cold / everyone’s yelling at me to get back in the house” find their way directly into the listeners’ bones. The feelings portrayed are unsettling, and unforgettable. My favorite line in this song is “everybody grab a drink / and gather round the kitchen sink / we talk about dying / and how that might feel” because it really feels portrays everything that listening Saint Judas feels like; to be at a party, drinking and dancing, and to at some point in the night end up in a corner in the kitchen drunkenly spilling all of your worst thoughts. This line stuck with me for a long time after my first listen, because the feeling of pure joy that’s vignetted with the ever-present feelings of darkness is such a niche, hard to describe kind of experience, and that is exactly what listening to this whole EP feels like.

The last song on the EP “involuntary hospitalization” describes exactly what the title says. Opening with harrowing lyrics like “the last time I told you what’s wrong / you sent me away, two months on my own / now I keep all my thoughts to myself” almost immediately brought me to tears. This song is the kind of song to only listen to in the daylight hours, because to be left alone with the weight of this in the dark would surely be too much to bear. So much of this EP puts Saint Judas’ honest emotions right on display, and in this song it’s like as you listen, you are feeling every raw, vulnerable thing that they are, right along with with them. In its ability to affect a listener like that, this song is so incredibly special, and incredibly brutal all at once.

This entire EP is not only emotionally in-tune, lyrically strong, musically interesting at the same time, but listening through it feels incredibly vulnerable and comforting to the point where I personally am thankful to have received this EP in advance of its release date. I’ve been listening to it non-stop since it was sent to me, and it’s clear this release will definitely stay very close to my heart for a long time.

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