The pettiest of disagreements, infractions, slights, and controversies can entirely derail one's day. A misunderstanding or an outright conflict with another person can introduce an untold amount of stress into your life, and yet it is navigable so long as you keep the matter in its proper perspective. When these dislocations happen within the self though, it can lead to outright ruin. The Greeks transcribed upon the walls of the Temple of Apollo, "nosce te ipsum" ("Know Thy Self"). But to which self shall you be true? The one in the gutter, or the one on a pedestal; the one who paid the electric bill on time, or the one who can't be convinced to make their bed in the morning? Inside you are two wolves. They're roommates and can't decide whose turn it is to do the dishes. Which part of yourself to appease and which part of yourself to regulate, at first, seems like a simple choice- but it's not. Society places many expectations on all of us, and what's more, we place just as daunting of expectations on ourselves. The divides that these pressures create are explored in a quizzical fashion on Lash's EP House of Women. The pop-industrial record explores the many sides of Lash's personality as discordant figures living within the priory of her personage. The first three tracks are given feminine names to solidify their identities, the first embodying her sense of discipline as depicted by the Sysophian haul of "Bernarda," a heaving stride through a blaze of lurching synths, combustible guitar solos, and stomping resolute percussion, whose ashy textures give the impression that Lash is singing it while wounded and attempting to escape a burning forest. Next, "Maldita" represents her sense of ambition, combining popular styles of dance production into a rapturous ascent, pricked around the edges by a crush of dark electronics, possibly symbolizing her sense of doubt, or the realization that with success will come a foreclosure of other possible futures and routes of personal fulfillment. Then there is "Ingenua," a sunny swivel, escorted through its paces by traditional Spanish rhythms, a track with an upbeat tempo and a playful chorus harmony that speaks to the personal betrayal she experiences in giving into society's demands of her, as a musician, and a woman. These three parts of her soul are reconciled within the final track, "House of Women," a nightmarish flight through unearthly sonic interiors and billowing gasps of noisy feedback, that climax in a coasting oasis of quietude that sails out of sight like an ark in search of a mountain top to anchor itself to. Each of us contains multitudes, but few are willing to unleash them all and live with the consequences. Lash is one such brave soul. How about you?
