Candi Carpenter’s Reincarnation sounds like the work of an artist who has finally stopped asking permission to be themselves. Across six tracks, the queer, autistic singer-songwriter, producer, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist transforms a complicated relationship with evangelical Christianity into something fierce, theatrical, strange, and deeply human. The result is an ambitious alt-rock project that feels less like a collection of songs and more like a complete artistic rebirth.
What makes Reincarnation especially compelling is the way Carpenter turns their past into creative fuel. Having grown up performing gospel music in a Christian missionary family before moving to Nashville and finding success in country music, Carpenter has already experienced several dramatically different artistic lives. Here, those experiences collide with sexuality, identity, mortality, capitalism, fear, and the search for meaning after leaving religion behind.
Musically, the EP embraces that sense of transformation. Each song represents a different side of Carpenter, allowing the project to move through different genres and emotional landscapes. From the existential title track to the confrontational “American God,” Carpenter refuses to stay in one lane. The songs feel deliberately unpredictable, reflecting the central idea that identity itself is constantly changing.
The visual world surrounding the EP makes the concept even more ambitious. Carpenter’s short film, featuring a zombie-filled garbage world and a warehouse transformed into a trash dump, turns seemingly blunt symbolism into something strangely beautiful. The “filthy rainbow” aesthetic captures the project’s fascination with destruction and renewal, while appearances from Jane Wiedlin add another layer of rebellious energy.
Ultimately, Reincarnation is about refusing to remain trapped inside someone else’s definition of who you are. Carpenter takes religious trauma, personal history, sexuality, fear, and uncertainty and turns them into an explosive piece of art about choosing yourself. It is messy, theatrical, vulnerable, and unapologetically strange, which is precisely what makes it so memorable.
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