6A — Monday, April 8, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Priests explores being bad 
on ‘Seduction of Kansas’

ALBUM REVIEW

SISTER POLYGON RECORDS

After 
releasing 
their 
excellent album Nothing Feels 
Natural, it was hard to imagine 
where Priests would take their 
sound. The band masterfully 
demonstrated 
their 
post-punk chops, but 
that genre seems to 
have its limitations. It 
is difficult to navigate 
the 
post-punk 
genre 
and experiment within 
it without crossing back 
into punk or straying 
into 
alternative. 
However, 
with 
The 
Seduction 
of 
Kansas, 
Priests 
have 
totally 
eschewed post-punk in 
favor of a new genre, 
one much less defined, 
one that allows the 
band to full stretch its 
wings.
Priests 
tackles 
more sounds on The 
Seduction 
of 
Kansas 
than most bands will 
over the course of their 
whole 
careers. 
This 
description 
makes 
it 
sound like the Priests is 
trying to do too much, 
but most of these new 
sounds are barely noticeable. 
They 
bubble 
beneath 
the 
surface as the band does its 
thing. When these sounds do 
break through, though, they 
hit hard. Album opener, “Jesus’ 
Son,” is a far cry from anything 
on Nothing Feels Natural. It 
sets the tone for the rest of the 
album, as any opener should. 
Simply put, “Jesus’ Son” sounds 
big, 
clearly 
drawing 
from 
stadium rock. The guitar soars, 
the drums are driving and the 
vocals are sharp, but it’s the 
bass that sets this song apart. 
The bassline makes the song 

infectious and danceable, so 
much so that it’s hard to resist 
the urge to get up and move. 
The lyrics are gnarly and a little 
gross, and that is just how the 
band wants it.
In 
a 
track-by-track 
breakdown of the entire album 
released by Stereogum, the 

band states, “Being bad is 
fun. Think of a villain like 
Cruella de Vil. The villains in 
the movies always have the 
best clothes, they always seem 
the coolest.” The Seduction of 
Kansas certainly does have 
this air about it. The band is 
doing exactly what they want, 
and they’re not afraid to piss 
anyone off in the process. On 
the song “Youtube Sartre,” 
the band takes aim at anyone 
opposed to their beliefs and 
lifestyles, 
particularly 
the 
perpetually-disapproving 
baby boomers. What’s more, 

the song at first sounds like a 
typical rock song, but beneath 
the buzzsaw guitar is a dainty, 
bizarre vibraphone plodding 
along largely unnoticed and 
underappreciated.
Unfortunately, 
after 
“Youtube Sartre,” the album 
begins to feel overly long. The 
songs 
themselves 
are good, but they 
just 
aren’t 
great. 
“I’m 
Clean” 
and 
“Ice 
Cream” 
are 
both quiet, brooding 
songs 
marked 
by 
a bass guitar lead. 
The songs disrupt 
the tone set by the 
record’s first three 
songs. 
The 
album 
picks 
up 
a 
little 
once it hits “Good 
Time Charlie,” one 
of its singles, and 
“68 
Screens,” 
a 
delightfully 
weird 
track highlighted by 
shining synthesizer 
strokes and Priests’s 
own take on hardcore 
gang vocals. Outside 
of these two late 
gems 
though, 
the 
album fails to blow 
any minds. It’s by 
no means bad or 
unenjoyable, but it 
feels like something is missing.
On The Seduction of Kansas, 
Priests finds themselves in 
uncharted 
territory, 
taking 
their post-punk roots places 
they have never been before. 
They explore stadium rock, 
shoegaze, 
dance 
and 
many 
more genres; for the most part, 
it works well and there are 
no abysmal tracks. However, 
some songs fail to impress, 
causing the album to drag at 
times. Despite this, Priests still 
manages to create a fresh and 
enjoyable album that warrants 
several return visits.

If you’ve been listening to 
the radio for the last 15 years, 
there is a good chance that 
you’re familiar with Amos 
Lee’s hit song “Sweet Pea.” 
“Sweet Pea” is a feat in pop 
songwriting: It’s happy, but 
carries with it a tinge of blues 
that colors the tune soulfully, 
making 
the 
track 
more profound and 
caring 
than 
most 
sweet 
love 
songs 
can be. Before last 
week, that’s really 
all I was aware of 
in his discography, 
but boy, I was in 
for a surprise. The 
2006 single is just 
a glimpse into what 
Lee 
can 
really 
do, as he’s made a 
name 
for 
himself 
in 
songwriting 
and soul in the last 
13 years of music. 
His newest record, 
My New Moon, is 
the culmination of 
those years in one 
shining 
record, 
a 
work that weaves 
classic 
romance, 
grit 
and 
soul together in one varied 
pattern. This comes through 
in his live performances, too 
— on Tuesday, Lee’s signature 
soulful charm made its way 
to the Michigan Theater for a 
memorable performance in our 
own Ann Arbor.
Right 
off 
the 
bat, 
the 
audience could bet on the 
night being a good one — 
Lee’s 
opening 
act 
Ethan 
Gruska began the show with 
a collection of songs off of his 
first 
record 
Slowmotionary. 
It makes sense that Gruska 

was chosen to travel with Lee 
across North America for this 
tour, as they both have a similar 
aura of wistful storytelling 
about them. Gruska’s set was 
heavy on guitar and piano and 
primed the audience for what 
would be a two-hour journey 
through Amos Lee’s memory 
and 
heart. 
After 
a 
brief 
intermission, the packed house 
rose to their feet for Lee’s first 
song, a performance of My New 

Moon standout “All You Got Is 
A Song.” The bass blared, and 
Lee’s warm vocals filled the 
theater easily and beautifully, 
setting himself and his band up 
for the night ahead.
For the next two hours, 
Lee made the nearly-sold-out 
Michigan Theater into his 
living room, as comfortable on 
stage as he would be talking 
to an old friend. The musician 
was clearly close with all 
of his bandmates, and even 
shared the spotlight with a 
few of them, creating features 
on songs like “Spirit” and 

“Arms of a Woman.” Through 
this and Lee’s funny banter, 
the show took on a life of its 
own, behaving more like a jam 
session between friends than 
a polished performance. This 
isn’t to say that Lee is less 
than a consummate performer, 
though — it was his ease and 
style on stage that made its 
homey vibe possible in the first 
place. He glided in and out of 
vocal riffs as if they were as 
easy 
as 
breathing, 
floating 
between 
high-tempo jams and 
emotional 
ballads 
without a hitch. My 
first 
impression 
of 
Lee was that of a man 
who had been playing 
music his whole life, 
and wanted everyone 
else to feel how much 
he loved it, too.

More 
than 

anything, 
Lee’s 
performance 
was 
a 
place for him to share 
how life’s tragedies 
(the 
death 
of 
his 
grandparents, the end 
of a relationship) and 
joys (new love, finding 
your groove in this 
world) can make great 
art. His anecdotes and 
jokes between songs carried 
as much weight as the songs 
themselves, often letting the 
audience in on the stories 
behind them. Through Lee’s 
showmanship, the audience 
was able to understand how 
music can color life and allow 
one to get through it at the 
same time — in Amos Lee’s 
darkest times, it was music that 
gave him joy, and when he was 
joyful, it was music that helped 
him to spread his happiness to 
others, creating a patchwork of 
emotion and beauty all present 
in his incomparable voice.

At Michigan Theater, Lee 
finds himself comfortable

SHOW REVIEW

CLARA SCOTT
Senior Arts Editor

RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

Lee made the nearly-sold-out 
Michigan Theater into his 
living room, as comfortable 
on stage as he would be 
talking to an old friend.

JIM WILSON
Daily Arts Writer

The Seduction of 
Kansas

Priests

Sister Polygon Records

HBO

TV REVIEW

‘Veep’ remains relevant, 
funny and (kind of) sad

From the time it premiered 
20 years ago on NBC, certain 
people have always wanted to 
believe Washington operated 
like “The West Wing.” They 
wanted 
to 
imagine 
slick, 

educated, 
smooth-talking 
technocrats 
briskly 
walking 
through corridors and “reaching 
across the aisle” to solve the 
problems 
of 
the 
American 
people. Civility and respect are 
the name of the game in this 
fiction. However, if the events of 
the 21st century haven’t already 
cracked this façade, the last few 

years most certainly have. It’s 
clear as day that our political 
reality 
resembles 
Armando 
Iannucci’s biting satire (more 
accurately, 
documentary), 
“Veep” — it’s made up of a bunch 
of narcissistic, power-hungry 
blowhards who couldn’t give 
two shits about you or me.
“Veep,” entering its final 

season, is Iannucci’s second 
crack 
at 
political 
comedy, 
after the British sitcom “The 
Thick of It.” “Veep” preserves 
the vulgarity and cynicism of 
its spiritual predecessor, but 
Iannucci’s great achievement 
is making it feel distinctly 
American. Selina Meyer (Julia 
Louis-Dreyfus, “Seinfeld”), the 
smoothed out yet in some ways 
more despicable version of “The 
Thick of It”’s Malcolm Tucker, is 
back with a vengeance, running 
for president after some soul 
searching.
The premiere is a reassuring 
reminder of how brilliant and 
awful these familiar characters 
are. The unmatched, hapless 
former liaison to Meyer’s office 
turned 
congressman 
Jonah 
Ryan (Timothy Simons, “Ralph 
Breaks the Internet”) is now 
running for president himself. 
Blood-boilingly 
punchable 
as ever, he finds himself in 
somewhat of a scandal when 
the press finds out his wife 
is 
actually 
his 
step-sister, 
although he is adamant that it’s 
not that big of a deal in the first 
place.
Dreyfus’s 
performance 
as 
Meyer continues to be the biggest 
highlight in a show with many. 
She is still incapable of any self-
reflection, remorse or emotion 
other than blatant selfishness. 
She struggles to answer the 

main question posed to her in 
the premiere: Why does she 
want to be president? As usual, 
she tries to come up with some 
of her signature faux-inspiration 
bullshit, but in reality, her only 
reason is because she is adamant 
that it is her damn turn. In 
one of the show’s more tragic 
character arcs, Selina’s daughter 
Catherine (Sarah Sutherland, 
“Chronic”) 
suffers 
from 
postpartum 
depression 
with 

little sympathy from her mother, 
who unsurprisingly refers to her 
baby as “it” and tries to use him 
as a prop as often as possible for 
her own gain. It’s hard to argue 
against the fact that at this 
point, she should probably just 
know better.
It’s pretty much settled that 
Selina’s never going to regain 

what semblance of humanity 
she once had, and it remains 
the same for most of the other 
surrounding characters. Amy 
(Anna Chlumsky, “Halt and 
Catch Fire”), Meyer’s chief of 
staff, is pregnant and Dan (Reid 
Scott, “Venom”) is revealed as 
the father. Dan, the epitome 
of smooth-talking, ruthlessly 
ambitious 
young 
Beltway 
careerist, is as callous as we 
expect, offering to “go Dutch on 
the abortion” even when Amy 
expresses a desire to keep the 
child.
“Veep”’s elite characters 
love calling the American 
people 
“disgusting” 
as 
often as they can, making 
it hilarious and sadly ironic 
when juxtaposed with their 
own rampant bigotry. It’s 
hard to not wonder where 
these 
people’s 
lives 
went 
wrong. Were they always 
mild (or severe) sociopaths, 
or did Washington suck out 
all remaining vestiges of their 
souls? Maybe it’s better if we 
know just how self-serving the 
people we represent us probably 
are. Maybe we can try to change 
things knowing this. Or maybe 
we can just follow the lead of 
Selina Meyer’s chief of staff Ben 
(Kevin Dunn, “True Detective”) 
and drink away from our nine-
cup thermos filled with bourbon 
and Smartwater.

SAYAN GHOSH
Daily New Media Editor

Veep

Season 7 Premiere

HBO

Sundays @ 10:30 p.m.

