Skylar Kergil - thank you

Skylar Kergil

Thank You
self-released; 2013

3.5 out of 5

By Sean Dennison

I think this is the first time I've ever listened to music out of Vermont. I was so shocked I had to look up where Vermont was. I figured it'd be somewhere in the Midwest, or toward the South, but nope, it's seated comfortably next to Maine in the northeastern corner of the Union. The more you know…

Anyway, the real focus of Thank You isn't that Skylar Kergil is based out of Vermont, it's that Skylar Kergil is a transgender, born female and living as a male since he was 15. His music, like all artists, is a continued exploration of his own identity and it’s done with a deft command of an acoustic guitar and lyrics bathed in raw emotion.

The music is melancholy, solo singer-writer acoustic rock. Draw your own inferences. I'm mostly intrigued by the lyrics, whose depth I would not expect from Kergil's 22 years of age. He's crafted a meditative, at times emotive, and above all worthwhile, collection of songs that touch upon the most important elements of human drama: love, loneliness, despair and there are frequent allusions and outright statements dealing with Kergil's own transgenderism.

"All In My Head" opens with a brave statement: "i imagine a world full of all the living / boys and girls and in between - all forgiven / with no discrimination based on race, class, gender  / or sexuality - this is what i've been dreaming." It's a powerful message that comes from someone who knows. The phrasing is also indicative of Kergil's own mastery over his lyrics. He pens songs and examines his chosen themes calmly. "Yesterday i found out that my bones are hollow / when did they plan on telling me that? / so today for the first time i'm going to try to fly," he croons. 

To analyze the lyrics found in Thank You would take another entry entirely. They're important not only aesthetically but politically as well.

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