Heresy

There are musicians who don’t care what anyone else thinks, then there’s Swati Sharma. On her second album Small Gods she writes, plays and sings from her heart, not caring if anyone likes it or not. Her self-described “”heavy acoustic”” music is anything but easy listening not only because of the tonal quality but also her attention-grabbing lyrics. Sharma’s fully armed guitar is often dubbed over itself to create a large, intense atmosphere. Despite its layers, her guitar sounds clean and crystal clear, sometimes coming off as too highly produced to match her raw lyrics and vocals. Her hoarse, abrasive voice comes in either a whisper or a yell and spits out extremely sexual lyrics. On “”MF”” (which stands for exactly what you think it does and features the actual word 22 times) she says, “”My feelings / don’t hurt me / I’m empty / so trendy / stick it through me / stick it through me… / stick it in me now.””

Sharma attempts to destroy the male-centric world rather than uplift the female form, thereby ignoring that which she feels has been marginalized. The record’s title track, a phallic reference in itself, finds Sharma bemoaning the deification of the male member saying, “”I need more than your small gods.”” On “”New Me”” Sharma returns to her “”MF”” trope: “”Used to be a motherfucker / Now something has changed / I’m a pussy again / Daddy’s in my brain.”” In a particularly “”Baby One More Time””-era Britney Spears moment she purrs, “”Last night I got off thinking about how sad you are.””

ame Small Gods is hard to relate to if you’re not a woman looking to get back at the chauvinistic society that surrounds you. This is one woman’s account of that work and perhaps a noble effort, but by no means an important or meaningful release in the acoustic rock world.