Elysia Crampton attaches terms such as potomological to her work with such ease as the tacky artwork that follows her sonic arrangements. An iTunes logo (September 2006 edition) for “Something Else”, the space thriller movie poster for 2015’s overlooked American Drift, a smoking black pickup truck for her edit of Justin Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me." Crampton is a genius and she doesn’t need the Yale University speaking engagements to prove it. But she would only be half as powerful if the calculated intensity of her music did not match the theory. Dropping knowledge like “decolonization is a quotidian work” stands alone as a powerful statement but la fuerza del destino would have it that Elysia Crampton is an artist who delivers sonically as well.
The insurgent potential of “Confessions of a Post Carceral Feminist” feels club-ready, despite Elysia Crampton’s complicated relationship to the club. “As a trans woman, the club hasn't worked for me as a space for growth, shelter, or, on the most basic level, a space where I could simply feel at ease” she told Resident Advisor last year.
“Confessions of a Post Carceral Feminist” is Elysia Crampton’s most accessible song to date: reimagining Kelela’s “Keep It Cool” (from Kelela’s excellent Cut 4 Me) for the chimerical dance floor that the Indigenous Peruvian “transevangelist” has conceptualized as a realm of her own personal expansion (& safety). “Confessions” also wears its politics on its sleeve: the artwork that accompanies the track adds crucial details to the listener’s experience of the work. We can only assume that the “postcarceral feminist” of “Confessions” is totally chill with dismantling America's carceral $ociety & burning American flags.