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Posted: 26 Jun 2013 06:58 AM PDT
Ellery James Roberts doesn't do small. His old band, Wu Lyf, was a brilliant flash in the pan that burned out brightly and quickly after its triumphant debut album, 2011's Go Tell Fire on the Mountain. Roberts announced his departure from that auspicious project with a letter that grandly stated, "WU LYF is dead to me," among a litany of weighted phrases. Now, there's his first solo song, "Kerou's Lament", which appeared online accompanied by a video interspersing footage of a young girl going through the motions of self-immolation with flashes of a poster which reads, "What does it mean to be free?"
Roberts has a knack for turning a quiet revelation into a widescreen spectacle. The London-based artist even borrows the blown-out beat from Clams Casino's soaring "I'm God" instrumental to bolster the sweeping synths, blaring horns, and guttural cries of his personal hymn, but "Kerou's Lament" takes off from lofty heights from the start, building layers of anthemic chords around the intensity of Roberts' gruffly tarnished voice as he chants with bleeding conviction, "To the powers of old, to the powers that be: You fucked up this world, but you won't fuck with me." With a message of that size, it only feels right that Roberts delivers it with the same grandiose emotions that have become synonymous with his body of work. Ellery James Roberts: "Kerou's Lament" on SoundCloud. 
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