Today, Siichaq — the project of the Atlanta-based musician Kennie Mason — independently shares “Doing Damage” from her forthcoming record The Righteous Sword, due August 28th. Listen to “Doing Damage” here, and presave The Righteous Sword here.

Releasing music under her inuit name (Siichaq), Mason investigates a modern, industrialized notion of Southern gothic via artfully crafted, overdriven and dark indie rock. “Doing Damage,” which premiered this past Saturday on KEXP’s Sounds of Survivance, is scraping shoegaze a la My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything, a raw dispatch from a dissociative, despondent spirit grasping for their own humanity. Guitar distortion pummels against the Mason’s soft but sure voice; a frank and vulnerable embodiment of what it’s like when you’re not doing too well.

Of “Doing Damage,” Siichaq says, “I was sick while we were tracking the album, and I think I was experiencing a touch of depression too… I wanted to write something more profound but in the end, I just felt too terrible to write about anything other than how terrible I felt. I was convinced my skin started turning grey from lack of nutrition or sleep or sunlight. I would’ve usually probably tried to use some more flowery language to describe the scenario, but I shut that part of my brain down and decided I was gonna lay it all out there, exactly as it was.”

Awash in blown-out despondence and frayed nerves, Mason’s recent record CATCHER is a ruggedly honest set that calls upon a flourishing musical community — including members of Lunar Vacation, The Slaps, and Faye Webster’s band — to help bring its bleakly beautiful world to life. Across the record you get a vastness of sound: “Project 3” creates a grungy, deep, droning, murky shoegaze/slacker rock world that proves to be perfect for introducing such an introspective, autobiographical album in CATCHER. Lush strings by Annie Leeth soar on “Life’s A Mess,” while “Horse & The Heretic” provides an interlude of noise rock, which sits comfortably next to golden two-tone harmonies sung about the pleasures of being alone on “A Couple Bad People.” Groovy pop melodies on  “Cannibal” compliment the bare bones banjo on “World Equestrian Center.”

On her most recent single, “Cattle Driver” (as well as on the forthcoming The Righteous Sword), Siichaq gets more industrial, brooding, and electronic than ever before. Heavy guitars and droning bass lie over a programmed double-kick drum, finding itself somewhere between doom metal, dark club music, and the introspective indie rock found across her debut 2024 album My Dog Ate My Patriotism. 

Mason grew up in North Florida as the only native person, or even person of color, to note. She always found herself making friends with older folks; her soul much older than birthdays would suggest. On the forthcoming album The Righteous Sword, Siichaq deepens and expands upon the themes of identity, introspection, and critical societal examination she uncovered on CATCHER.