Zoé frontman León Larregui has been making a bit of a name for himself for his solo work for several years now. The single “Chromocosmic Avenue” and its attendant music video is about a near future scenario based in the world today where in most major cities it’s all but a surveillance state in public places and increasingly so. The female leads work on a way to break this state of things in secret and by the dark of night with their access to the infrastructure that makes the panopticon possible. It’s a bit fantastical and hopeful because of course the technocratic system will reassert itself unless checked by an accountable government responsive to a population demanding control of its individual liberties. But the song speaks to a desire pretty common among most normal people not to have their movements surveiled and subject to analysis daily and maybe, given current trends, sent to an AI or algorithm to impose consequences for not adhering to a narrow range of “acceptable” movements and behaviors with no nuance and just the inevitable rigid protocols. The song brings together the singer’s melodious vocals in a low key mode suitable for the late night and clandestine vibe of the song with tropical rhythms and a celebratory/subversive spirit in the use of horns and synths. It’s reminiscent of a song that might have been on the soundtrack to a 1980s techno thriller and because of that the song seems more immediately accessible than dire. After all a pop song built on doomerism doesn’t really work and Larregui brought that sensibility that he has honed for years to a song that is both fun and substantive. Watch the video for “Chromocosmic Avenue” on YouTube and follow León Larregui on Spotify.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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