Whenever I first heard the name, Emperor X, my mind conjured up images of an obscure technical death metal band that only the most hardcore of metalheads were aware of. However, to my shock, I soon found that my guess could not be further from the truth as Emperor X was instead a nerdy ex-science teacher suffering from subpar vision. However, This revelation did not sway my interest. Instead, it only furthered it as I became enthralled with the strange world of his music and soon found that Emperor X did, in fact, have the same spirit as the metal band that I had conjured in my head, with music that was uncompromising, strange, and boisterous. And never was this spirit more apparent than on his magnum opus Erica Western Teleport, an album that tackles public transportation, Middle Eastern politics, ecological disasters, and the underlying commonalities that make us all human. Emperor X or Chad Matheny exists as a strange anomaly of a singer-songwriter. Matheny often does not adhere to the genre trappings of indie folk, with comparisons to The Mountain Goats or Elliot Smith seeming half-baked at best. Even Matheny himself struggles to clarify his style, jokingly referring to it as “Acoustic Rave” before clarifying that phrase in itself is nonsensical. "My stock response is "acoustic rave," which means and says nothing about my music so I probably shouldn't say it. I'm not acoustic rave, and I'm not trying to invent a genre. But if that was a genre, I think I'd like it a lot. Actually, I think acoustic rave is just a fancy term for a drum circle." Perhaps the best way to explain its style is to say that it is a strange amalgam of indie folk, electronica, and noise rock, but that does little to indicate Matheny’s specific voice that is present in his music. Matheny’s lyrics are often nonsensical, whimsical, or seemingly jumbled yet strike meaning despite this. Even Matheny has addressed that the meaning of the songs on Erica Western Teleport are unclear to him as his process is a disorganized free-flowing mess when compared to other songwriters. However, despite this, Matheny and viewers alike can recognize the value in interpretation, and thus the endless speculation on the meaning of his songs is not worthless. After all, fans of Emperor X have continually told Matheny about how the lyrics of the song Erica Western Teleport directly translated their experience. Yet, Matheny is adamant that Erica Western was not based on a real person, nor was the song a documentation of his experience. "Erica Western Teleport. I can’t tell you how many people have told me “I’m so glad you wrote that song, I can’t believe that the exact same thing that happened to you that happened to me, for example”… and then they tell me this insane story that has nothing to do with what that song was related to. I think that taught me something, people will ascribe their own meanings to things. Growing up, my favorite band was and continues to be R.E.M. Listen to some R.E.M. lyrics. They don’t “make any sense,” but I have deep emotional connections to them." Yet, the mantra of “Don’t Think of Her” is striking and easily relatable to any experiences related to losing a relationship and struggling to move past it. While the last line, “Always Think of Her,” communicates the idea that you can never forget someone that you loved. Even the more abstract lines reminiscing on a woman swimming sideways or studying for the LSATS, while vague, communicates the experience of recalling every detail of a relationship despite wanting to forget it all. The song’s vague stream-of-consciousness style somehow conveys a universal feeling despite the specific and abstract information similar to the work of great abstract painters such as Wassily Kandinsky or Georgia O’Keeffe. The following song Sig Alert is even more abstract than Erica Western Teleport. The song follows a narrator being recruited for a war in Los Angeles, referencing locations like Westwood and La Brea. Our rent's not paid, and all Westwood's on lockdown… That we'll hold them back at La Brea Of course, the song is not addressing a literal war. Instead, the meaning can likely be traced back to the name of the song Sig Alert, which refers to the LA traffic report of the same name. This song begins a long line of songs referring to public transportation, a facet of life Matheny is intimately familiar with. His obsession with public transportation stems from his experiences as a visually impaired citizen. While not legally blind, as many report, Matheny has a poor 20/80 vision that prohibits him from driving a car. Because of this, Matheny relied on public transportation when he was in the US, which is famously flawed. Matheny has spoken about the issue many times with very critical remarks, and Sig Alert’s depiction of a chaotic war in LA is a perfect representation of the disorganized and flawed world of American transportation. I have wrote a lot more about this album so if you are interested please check out my blog: part 1 of Emperor X analysis https://www.itcamefromrateyourmusicrym.com/blog-3-1/blog-post-title-one-33bzd Part 2: https://www.itcamefromrateyourmusicrym.com/blog-4/blog-post-title-one-ghhds Home page: https://www.itcamefromrateyourmusicrym.com/home