Like a divine presence, Heavenly Sister reaches across time and space with urgency for the present. Recorded in the summer of 2016, the album draws on five decades of pop history—the ghostly strum of a telecaster, the unexpected visitation of a theremin—to present carefully crafted songs of longing and betrayal. Yeun’s powerful voice gives opener “Honey” the makings of a grand California tragedy, with moody organs and guitar chords that have a sinister coastal chime. She confronts her faithless lover in despair: “Why do you lie to me? Am I so hard to love?” But it is heartbreak that pulses with melancholy beauty. “Holy Ghost” begins softly, with a guitar that rises up from a well, before breaking into a chorus built around a tambourine-and-cymbal stomp and the dissonant squeal of strings. “Don’t mourn the future, cuz it hasn’t happened yet,” Yeun sings. The line calls back to her upbringing with the Moonies, to the childhood expectation of an arranged marriage, and to the anxiety she found in freedom after leaving the cult behind. 

That same attraction to the worst saturates the penultimate track “Do It Now.” The song acts as a photo negative to The Crystals’ “Please Hurt Me,” willing the necessary pain of a break-up instead of the start of a doomed love affair: “Baby, if you’re gonna hurt me—do it now.” There is hurt on Heavenly Sister, but also a whole lot more.

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Reissue Date: Jan. 28, 2022

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