J Mascis - J + Friends Sing + Chant for Amma

All Music Guide

A collection of devotional songs dedicated to Amma, the living Indian saint Sri Mata Arritanandarrayi Devi, this selfreleased disc represents the most beautiful and nakedly emotional music J Mascis has ever createdthough favoring acoustic guitars and simple, circular melodies, it's as powerful as anything ever wrought by Dinosaur Jr, with the crucial difference that it soothes the soul instead of warping the brain. While Mascis' quavering voice always articulated the emotional turmoil his splatterpunk lyrics once conspicuously avoided, here he confronts his spiritual conflicts with poignant honesty, contemplating confusion, isolation and loss in unflinching detailwhen he finally plugs in his guitar for the closing "Heavy Metal Ai Girl Nandini," a blistering reintepretation of a Sanskrit hymn some 1300 years old, the catharsis is monumental.

- Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide