Virginia, USA-based artist Caleb L’Etoile returns with strong album of the year contender, American Death.
By Graeme Smith
“It’s an anti-fascist album written during, and heavily inspired by, a specific time in history and political events,” Caleb L’Etoile says of the album, describing it as “about evil and greed, human rights, humanity, and home.”
Innovatively, the album was built piece by piece, with each song being released as it was written with the goal of making a “living album.”
“I knew I felt a need to speak up in relation to recent events but they were still unfolding, so an open ended album aimed to be the right approach,” he says.
American Death opens in soulful and simmering style with a touch of classic rock and roll in the experimental composition of Marigold, Your Hair Is On Fire. The lyrics also feel traditionally folksy, but they speak to the modern world and the current political situation unfolding in the US. L’Etoile delivers them with perfect passion, contrasting quiet moments with fiery ones expertly. It’s a striking start.
It segues into the spoken word intro of GOD IS GREATGOOD. It quickly hits a cantering acoustic rhythm while the lyrics excoriate the actions of the American Right and their invocation of Christianity for their purposes. Food For My Baby turns things inward for a storytelling moment of fleeing from authoritarian overreach while How Dare takes the sonics in an unexpectedly raucous direction with a hard rock finale.
Raw and soulful rumination after rumination spill out one after another, sounding like an elegy for American democracy. There’s a risk in taking on current affairs and rushing to the end product, but the lyrics in each track are well-thought-out and poetic, visceral in a way that can only be achieved from the immediacy of the situation. Musically, things are varied, refusing to be bound by genre.
Previously released single Aw Hell is, of course, a highlight, injecting some pacy, memorable country rock into the heart of the album. The Devil That You Know proves another highlight thanks to its percussive. maximalist, Modest Mouse-esque instrumental. Kerosene brings things to a fiery close, acting as a stirring call to action for anyone who has been made angry by everything that’s going on Stateside.
I can’t think of an album that has more perfectly captured the urgency of the current situation. I know it’s only June, but American Death by Caleb L’Etoile has to be the album of 2025. Its fire, its poetry, its clever, varied compositions make it a difficult one to beat. Whatever happens in the next few years in America, this period will be studied in history books, and this album is soundtracking the moment.
American Death is out now and you can give it a listen below.
