Sons of Magdalene: Artist You Should Know

One half of ambient techno outfit Telefon Tel Aviv, Joshua Eustis started working a new musical project called Sons of Magdalenein response to his father’s cancer diagnosis. Shortly afterward, his Telefon Tel Aviv collaborator Charles W. Cooper III, unexpectedly passed away.

Having been dealt a miserable hand by fate, Eustis spent some time as a touring member of Nine Inch Nails, a band Telefon Tel Aviv spent some time opening for.But eventually Eustis felt the need to bring closure to the indescribable pain of losing both his father and childhood friend and artistic collaborator in a startlingly short span of time.

After an extended period of time on his hard drive, haunting him, Eustis decided it was necessary to finish the album and let the work go. The result is a stunningly beautiful, heartfelt and raw album called “Move to Pain”.

If you didn’t know the tragic story behind it, you’d simply engage the album as a fully realized, beautifully melodic dark synthpop masterpiece (which it absolutely is.) But, listening through the awareness of all he’s been through elevates the album even further.

“Move to Pain” is an extraordinary portrait of the artist’s confounding ability to process heartache and quizzically emote in this way.

To express such depth of feeling and create something so unique through such a trying experience and have the result be such beautiful work is a real testament to Eustis’ heart and the power of music as catalyst.

It is unquestionably one of the most emotively lush and fully realized albums I’ve heard this year. And that it was born of it’s circumstances is truly nothing short of a miracle.