So That You Can Feel Better is the new mixtape of Los Angeles musician Angela Burns, whose vision is of a uniquely gothic baroque take on garage rock. Dark and tempestuously brooding, Burns’ intense and steely cold hymns are like garage rave ups stretched and slowed down to their breaking point; like punk music on life support. A song like “It’s Sad” sped up could, theoretically, have been a Wall of Sound pop hit by The Ronettes.
It’s a less experimental take on Nico’s solo career, produced largely by John Cale, but it’s just as captivating in its teasing obliqueness. Songs such as “All Together,” seem like she’s casting spells, repeating lyrics hypnotically like, “you keep me all together.”
While there are no moments that one would call a stand out single, it seems as if the entire tape is designed to be as such. Rather, its strengths come from the piece as a whole; even the scratch takes of “Roots” and “So That You Can Feel Better” seem necessary for its existence. Burns’ wonderfully poetic lyrics just hang like a ghost over a slowly revolving storm of guitars and pianos playing themselves beneath it, sucking you in against your will.
