Listening to Excess of Loss, the new album from Xol Meissner, one can’t help but be transported to a different time and place, where the haunting baritone vocals recall Scott Walker, Nick Cave, and Jacques Brel, and the instrumental accompaniment consists of a hammered lap steel. The combination invokes a dream-like state that is dark and mysterious but oddly intoxicating. Excess of Loss draws inspiration from many places, but still sounds like absolutely nothing else.
Xol Meissner is the alias of New York City-based composer Mauro Hertig. Classically trained and the 2019 Laureate of the Voix-Nouvelles Académie in France, Hertig had regularly used text in scored works prior to writing songs full-time. His unique style of lap steel was previously used for pieces composed for other guitarists, but on this record, it meshes with his arresting vocal style, resulting in the seven deeply emotive tracks on Excess of Loss.
While the arrangements are certainly stirring and atmospheric, the lyrics also evoke a sense of something special and otherworldly. Beginning with “Cake (100)”, Hertig sings, “A distant cousin who came into money / Is holding a glass with their tears as a drink / An unpleasant jolt, insatiably funny / The contact for futures to generate calm.” Hertig’s irresistible croon floats above the lap steel, creating an ethereal state. “Breeder (99)” continues along this vein, with aching, sustained guitar notes working in tandem with the hammering technique, adding more lush textures to the mysterious landscape.
“Hunt (97)” brings even more welcome elements to Xol Meissner’s strange, beautiful world of “dark chanson”, as minimalist synth notes are dropped into the arrangement, bringing to mind Jacques Brel caught in David Lynch‘s universe. “Pyramid (96)”, perhaps the centerpiece of this beguiling record, clocks in at seven-and-a-half minutes, with dark, rumbling effects supporting Hertig’s avant-classical leanings as he sings about kissing over a pharaoh’s tomb.
Elsewhere, Hertig takes a slightly atonal, sparse approach on “Mother (95)”, as single notes dot the song, giving the hammering technique a reprieve. Rarely has an artist sounded so emotionally naked and vulnerable. As the water-like effects rise towards the song’s conclusion, one gets the impression that Hertig is being swallowed up by the very world he has created. Recorded at the legendary Future-Past Studios in upstate New York with its founder, Patrick Higgins, Excess of Loss is impeccably crafted, as the compositions are brought to life with an uncanny warmth and depth.
The numbers at the end of each track title serve as a reference to Hertig’s goal of writing 100 songs in his lifetime, resulting in this odd but ambitious countdown. With seven down and 93 to go, one wonders what paths he’ll take to complete this goal, but rest assured, given Hertig’s talent and unique approach, it definitely won’t be boring. Xol Meissner’s Excess of Loss is an extremely bold and intoxicating artistic statement, full of Lynchian mystery and dark desire. You won’t hear another record quite like this.