I am loving ITOD and am completely obsessed with "St. Teresa," so I have been thinking about how it fits/does not fit the overall story since I heard it. I accumulated a lot of stuff in my head over the weekend, so I thought I would write it down, and since a lot of folks are sharing thoughts here, I thought I would share mine too! apologies for the ramble:
Tori has always loved telling us stories, and God, Jesus, and Lucifer have been in the mix from the start, but most of the time they are referenced with an irreverent sense of humor. So why do the current iterations of God and Jesus woven throughout In Times of Dragons feel a bit more fervent this time around? We’ve got the gay witch, vampires, the medicine man, and the lesbian biker gang, so how did this tale get churchy bits in it?
The characters in a story go a long way to make an individual experience more accessible to the audience, and as personifications they convey certain ideas. ITOD spins a wild tale with a sprawling cast, and our storyteller even proclaims loudly and often what it is about: escaping the evil “demon” billionaires who are dismantling democracy.
Would this story have landed differently if it was sold as a deeply personal and spiritual reconciliation of love and loss in the midst of, as we are all fond of saying, “all of this?”
And while we’re wondering, well: why not both? Aren’t we all in bed with billionaires and in need of an escape hatch?
[A not-so-quick aside on the musical instrumentation and arrangements: the first few times I listened to the album, I felt like I wasn’t perceiving the music and lyrics separately. The rich soundscape contains Tori’s gorgeously smoky lower vocal range like a gemstone in an expertly crafted setting, so the lyrics were enmeshed more fully into the musical experience for me. I don’t have a specific criticism of UG/NI/O2O - all of which contain songs I adore! - but I didn’t experience any of them this way. I love all the different keyboards, and huge props to John Philip Shenale for the custom synth work, because Tori’s utilization of these sounds and textures elevates everything, and may well have inspired Jon and Matt to new levels of their already superlative artistry. Finally I must confess that I have not always appreciated the stylings of Mac Aladdin, but Mark’s guitars on ITOD are perfection!]
Tori probably did not surprise many fans by writing a song called "St. Teresa," invoking the tradition of Christian mysticism, but some may be questioning how she fits in the demon billionaires story, given the rest of the cast of characters. Oddly enough, I think she's here because of Tori’s correspondence with Noah Michelson. Together they opened up a communication channel and spiritual connection “in the fifth dimension” with Lugh of the Long Arm, a Celtic deity. The epithet “long arm” may have come from his skill with a spear. Here is the connection to Teresa, during whose “transverberation” she was pierced by a spear wielded by a seraph. She also said she was visited by Jesus himself, even though he was invisible. Check out the liner notes depicting Lugh and the YouTube visualizers for his tunes “Flood” and “Song of Sorrow” and he looks a LOT like European depictions of Jesus.
St. Teresa, like Lugh, arrives unexpectedly in the narrative - we don’t learn about Lugh by name until “Strawberry Moon” and his two song contributions follow that one. Neither are mentioned in the (forgive me) expositionally clunky “Provincetown” (it’s still a good song, there’s just A LOT jammed in there), but in my mind it is Lugh’s arrival that is marked by “St. Teresa.” The song provides an insight to Tori’s spiritual/metaphysical relationship to Lugh by drawing the parallel with the ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila, a parallel continued on “Flood:” St. T was kissed by God, and our T was flooded with Lugh’s love. This connection allows Tori to explore a new passion in her long and happily married life with no damage to her relationship with Mark, except perhaps the bill for the Blanton’s.
Anyone else think that Tori is referring to Lugh on "Pyrite," when she “drinks his spirit down” and seeks assistance from “that Sweet Jesus” to make him “flesh and blood?” Or even connecting the references to “Sweet Jesus” in the 2026 live versions of “Crucify” to Lugh? Or am I going overboard?
Coming back to the actual text, on “Song of Sorrow” Lugh specifically invites Tori to sing of yearning AND sorrow: we covered the yearning above, but the sorrow is also deep and pervasive. His “ancient love” and support allows her to explore and process the grief and shame of a certain quasi-familial relationship she had in common with her daughter via "Veins," and in the epic finale of "Blue Lotus" and "23 Peaks," to face down the personal pain and sense of loss at experiencing her own physical changes/limitations as she ages, and hopefully ultimately achieve self-acceptance: “you’re becoming your own woman / and whole again.”
Is this album actually about how the spirit of Lugh came through as an emotional doula for Tori, to help her battle her demons and embrace her current self? I would accept that interpretation! And I also accept Tori’s own narrative, because I think both can be true. Many EWF are likely grieving and reeling in many ways for many reasons, and if they are also angry, then packaging this brilliant, healing album as a fuck you to billionaires probably doesn’t hurt.
While thinking of these themes, I have been enjoying my own personal re-tracking of the album in the spirit of choose-your-own-adventure stories. Whether it’s really about a CEO “lizard scum” character or really about breaking out of patterns of consumption, isolation, and denial to embrace love and accept yourself, where the cast serves as a set of signposts on the overall journey - you pick your path.
I am calling my version “dragons dark mode” and the ordering of the main songs doesn’t change, but the catchy singles, the funny Fanny interlude, and, no offense to Tash, the uplifting mother/daughter bonding and happy ending type moments (Gasoline Girls, Ode to Minnesota, Fanny Faudrey, Strawberry Moon, and Stronger Together) are removed and placed on an invented bonus disc called “flights of dragons.” This is not to say I don’t enjoy these songs (I only have beef with one, ask me later), they’re simply a side quest I choose to enjoy separately. Their absence might make the album feel darker and moodier, but I think it still has a lot of movement and balance. The story can still reference the Gasoline Girls as needed without including their own track on the main album, which makes it a fun discovery on the bonus side, and at the same time, the album can feature Lugh in a big way without naming him specifically.
One example of what I felt was a necessary change: I do not understand the placement of "Stronger Together" between "Blue Lotus" and "23 Peaks." It takes me out of the story completely. A safe happy ending placed immediately before the culmination of the hero’s fateful journey into the mountains to entreat the Dragon Queens for healing or else die trying!? I find it as jarring as reading two different ending pages from a choose-your-own-adventure story back to back. Other folks have said they like the breather between the heavier tracks, which is understandable, but I say give me my suffering dark mode or GTFO!
Personally I think the thematic throughline carried by the excellent musical arrangements is much stronger and clearer this way, and I can still visit our favorite lady biker gang whenever I like. Anyway however you are listening to ITOD I hope you are loving it as much as I am!