The Serpentine Singer, Part I

Serpentine has three separate definitions in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1965), a copy originally owned by my uncle, Dean Bouck (R.I.P., he died when I was two years old). Serpentine is defined as follows:

• of or resembling a serpent (as in form or movement); subtly wily or tempting, DIABOLIC; winding or turning one way and another, SINUOUS

• something that winds sinuously

• serpentina, serpentinum, of serpentinus, resembling a serpent, a mineral or rock consisting essentially of a hydrous magnesium silicate, H4Mg3Si2O, usually having a dull green color and often mottled appearance

Saint Avangeline (Adeline Troutman), from glossed-over Atlanta, Georgia, has been musically active for way longer than you thought, and she just recently entered her mid-20s. Her empyrean, dense music winds, twists, and curves through my brain. She has two Long Players—Gardener of Eden (2022) and Inferno (2024)—that are on opposite ends of the genre spectrum, but also not. It’s charming, shrewd torture.

“I fell in love with a god; she shows me no mercy.”

—from “"Serpentine Queen"”, by Saint Avangeline

In a March 27 Instagram post, Troutman, who has Chromesthesia (more on that later), says, “nothing’s sexier than lesbian metal.” Can’t not agree. I seek ethereal female voices to cure my emotional pain.

Recently, Avangeline (I am going to use Troutman and Avangeline conversely) opened for Acid Bath at The Caverns in Tennessee; the venue is inside an actual cavern! She played a SXSW showcase at Elysium with Rose Garden Funeral Party, Social Order, Casket Cassette, Future Nobodies, and Stare Away.

Avangeline has five recent singles: “Limerence,” “Carolina Creature,” “Love You to Death,” “Rain Dance,” and “The Heart That Ate Itself”; “Love You to Death” is a Type O Negative cover. She’s burning red on socials. She has her own LLC. It seems as if she is ramping up for a new album.

Her music is emotionally driven. She writes spontaneously, and that’s probably why she has a vast range.

“I might wake up feeling a certain way, and then try to make a song off of how I feel at that time,” says Troutman, wearing an Ascension Goth Club t-shirt, sitting among a framed skull and a gold light fixture; her smile is very bright, and her words are astute. “I have an idea for a new album, but the plans are not totally brainstormed. It more or less got scrapped. I want to make a new album, maybe along the lines of darkwave, post-punk, ethereal-wave [Cocteau Twins].”

Ahhh, Cocteau Twins. Maybe the most ethereal band, ever. I mention seeing a cool Cocteau Twins t-shirt on Dark Pick…now Avangeline wants one, too.

“Rain Dance” comes up on the Saint Avangeline shuffle. Mark me for death. Bury me alive with these beautiful strings and her cozy vocals, which are blooming all over her discography.