Mas Ysa
Seraph
DOWNTOWN
7/10
Mas Ysa mastermind Thomas Arsenault fully believes in the power of the beat to convey an extreme level of sincerity, and his full-length debut, Seraph, is a solid testament to this. While this means that he occasionally dips his toes into the preachy waters of ham-fisted bombast, as a whole, Seraph does a solid job of straddling that most uncool of lines. “Margarita,” a standout propulsive plea for Arsenault’s mother to stay alive despite the passage of time, sits well next to subdued tracks like “Gun”—one of two songs featuring Hundred Waters’ Nicole Miglis on vocals. There’s a blood-borne honesty at work on Seraph that’s refreshing, if not a little uncomfortable at times. From the hushed reflection of “Garden” to the emotional tornado of “Suffer,” Arsenault isn’t afraid of giving us both the whispered joy and four-on-the-floor tantrums that come with trying to be the person we strive to be for our loved ones.
