As I was dusting off some of the more obscure albums I listened to in high school, I came across Sever Your Roots by The Felix Culpa. This was the last of only two albums that the band produced. While they did a few EPs in between albums, they broke up before they could make any more music. The Felix Culpa is a hard core indie band that specializes in portraying a wide variety of emotions through sound.

The thing with indie bands and the songs that they write is that the words can be just as important as the complexity of the music itself. This album is full of dark imagery and words that will resonate with your bones. In the song “Our Holy Ghosts,” they are proclaiming their loss of love at the top of their lungs, and they say to their lover that “To be in love with love is not enough this time.” They chant this like a mantra until it is engrained in your heart. Another such mantra can be found in the next song, “The Constant” as the band sings, “Peace, be still my son, find peace.” One of the most haunting phrases that implies being comfortable with someone or with a situation can be the death of our humanity is, “We hold hands like old trees that have grown too close.”

The Felix Culpa has a very heavy sound that resonates throughout the entire album. They have softer songs that will bloom into a larger sound. However, one thing that I admire about their sound is that they do get dramatically quiet at times, but when they get to a loud and heavy part, there is a beautiful build up so it is never just a slap in the face. They have great contrast in all of their songs.

This is definitely not a happy band. I am not sure that any of their songs are in a major key on this album. However, that might be reflective of their band falling apart.

On the positive side, The Felix Culpa just announced last year that they are getting back together. I am excited to see where this band’s music will go next after such a long hiatus.