Maja Osojnik - Let Them Grow

'so COME OUT, you rotten cocksucker,

here’s your fucking POP SONG.' (Condition I)

                                              ............yes Maja, you tell 'em... 

..............................................Condition I is a highlight of Let Them Grow, which is not to say there are many inferior tracks 'cause there aren't....................any

'WE OWN YOU, WE OWN YOU, WE OWN YOU, 

WE OWN YOU, WE OWN YOU, WE OWN YOU,
WE OWN YOU, WE OWN YOU, WE OWN YOU.'
...........phew, on this Maja Osojnik is ablaze with righteous anger matched by fierce electronics, a storm of sound, proving that the spirit of Punk is alive and well, just don't look for it in bands, OK? Perhaps listening to Fugazi as a teen stayed with her to surface in the form of this.....................
                                                                                                                    so we gorge on 'a steady diet of nothing' if we're not careful, if we allow the sheer volume of empty calorie entertainment into our lives........it's pernicious influence is poison! Yes, you know that. Well here's some proper food in the form of Maja Osojnik's first solo album which is, probably, 'an acquired taste', but one which it would benefit you to try, I'm sure........because...........................
                                                                 in my experience albums like this don't come along too often despite there being a few seemingly popular female singers using electronic music..........who have nothing to do with (sound-wise) Maja's music, as far as I can tell.......................
                                                                                                        women in music....pah!
what are they doing?
wearing leather and 'rockin' like the guys
crooning soulfully in a Folky mode
gently seducing listeners with ambient electronics
looking like pole dancers
rapping, yes
trying to be the next Beyonce

..............I dunno.................I really don't. I shouldn't say a word, least of all to readily categorise......there's so much music out there that to try and define a landscape, the females-in-music one, might be foolish.......but..........I can only say what I see, just like on Catchphrase....

'will i ever know again
who i was supposed to be?
must i still decide what this world is for me?
and what’s with all that whispering?
I’M NOT SLEEPING.' (I was dying, so i am now probably dead)

Maja can describe the personal, the political personal in her prose lyrics. Despite being more than capable, she prefers to deliver lyrics in an almost deadpan style sometimes, but never matter-of-factly....yet as if traumatised, almost rendered comatose from hurt, the opposite of how artists are supposed to convey a message...................................the words here sometimes sound as if they've been ripped from a diary..........without a hint of the overwrought (acted out) angst many are prone to in order to try and convince............................
......................................... yet should you get the impression this is all 'angry', listen to A lullaby to an unborn child, a love song......it will change your mind..............typically, the wonderful ambiguity is there, along with, perhaps, a reference to John Cage ('no silence is silent')................you don't get that too often in songs today.........
                          Let Them Grow is not easy listening; it's spiky and lyrical, with brilliantly dark instrumentals containing all manner of sounds absorbed from various sonic avant-garde movements but channelled into a distinctive, personal vision.....an amazing album.....

Available on dble vinyl here
CD here
Or Bandcamp