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Elora’s Psychedelic Synth Pop Song “Embers” is Like the Goodbye Letter to an Abusive Former Friend That You Have to Write But Never Send

Elora launches “Embers” with a sound of lightly distorted synths in warping waves for a sound like a musical machine getting up to speed. But it’s really just the perfect musical setting for a song looking back on a friendship that it turns out was based around getting drunk and high but with one person in the friendship never being accountable and engaging in manipulative and at times passive-aggressive behavior. The melody even as it warps and sounds like it might melt apart draws you into Elora’s clear and bright vocals, coherent in a song that might veer off and threatens to stumble sideways. And don’t many of us know those people for whom lines like “you crossed a million lines, you were my friend when you were high” and “everything was fine until you started drinking” seem oh so appropriate. Especially when you’re young, or in a social scene that romanticizes partying and getting altered on various chemicals of choice. And to have misbehavior forgiven and dismissed as being drunk or fucked up, especially when you’re getting the brunt of that mistreatment. Elora looks back with some bemusement and wonder at allowing herself to remain connected to such a person for as long as she did. So why revisit that time? To remind yourself how good you’ve got it now and to draw that line on foolishness from others now. Listen to “Embers” on Spotify and follow Elora at the links below.

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Queen City Sounds Podcast S2E44: Kiltro

Kiltro started as the solo acoustic project of Chris Bowers Castillo who as a Chilean-American, had moved to the port city of Valparaíso where he worked as a walking tour guide. And that job not only afforded him the time to learn the city and take in its richly diverse cultural influences but also the opportunity to write a body of work as a songwriter. After returning to Denver Kiltro formally came to life in 2017 and Bowers Castillo developed his acoustic songs with loops, pedals and percussion elements. But in 2018 the project expanded into a trio with Will Parkhill on bass and drummer Michael Devincenzi and later with Fez Garcia on board as a percussionist for live shows.

Kiltro’s 2019 debut album Creatures of Habit had been recorded after the material had been performed live and getting feedback from audiences and friends before being committed to an easily transmitted and shareable form. But the group’s new album, 2023’s Underbelly, is the product of crafting music in quarantine and working in the studio, following whatever creative paths sparked the most inspiration in the moment resulting in a more experimental set of songs which incorporates aspects of shoegaze, ambient, South American folk, psychedelia and a literary yet spontaneous form of storytelling that feels like a deeply personal experience in the listening. The record is a hypnotic and transcendent work of surprising immediacy that one might compare with the likes of Devendra Banhart, Hermanos Guitérrez and more locally to the work of artists like Midwife American Grandma. It fuses the aesthetics of electronic music with the intimacy of mythical folk music around the campfire for a truly unique record refreshing in its originality.

Listen to our interview with Chris Bowers Castillo on Bandcamp and catch Kiltro live at its album release show at the Mercury Café on June 1, 2023 with Nina De Freitas,on tour throughout the USA in June, July, August and September with a stop in Denver on August 25 for the VORTEX festival at The JunkYard at Meow Wolf. For more information on Kiltro including live dates and to pre-order Underbelly please visit kiltromusic.com.

Springworks Deconstructs and Reconstructs and Reinvents its Sound on Lo-Fi Psychedelic Pop Song “Joke of the Season”

The impetus behind the writing of Springworks’ song “Joke of the Season” was the feeling of hearing a lot of uniformity in in music, probably popular music, and how a stylistic trend of production method will run through a huge swath of music or really form of art for awhile. In the 2010s too many years meant yet another “garage rock” band that sounded like everything else on Burger Records or a “psych rock” group that wasn’t particularly genuinely psychedelic or really even trippy but just had a little reverb or delay on the guitar and vocals to thicken the tone and give it a little atmosphere. Just prior to that the whole chamber pop thing or indie Americana. If you listened to a radio station touting the indie music format you might very well listen to a half hour of music and not know it was a different band from different decades. The title refers to a joke told too often, or really any trick or rote creative choice or habit repeated to the point of being stale rather than reliable.

So did Springworks succeed in bursting past a popular trend of today or at least burst through an instinct to repeat a successful formula? When the song begins it’s not unlike a good psychedelic pop song with some resonance for psychedelic music of the 60s but around the halfway point the song shifts into a piano driven section with samples for a half minute a so before returning to the musical themes of the beginning of the song. But the chorus of “We are the joke of the season” in the outro gives us a clue as to the conclusions reached in writing the song. It’s like what Thirteenth Century Zen master Dōgen wrote “Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.” It seems Springworks in undertaking challenging their own internalized creative complacency that seems to have infected too much of popular music discovered that some principles of songwriting work for a reason bur that in “Joke of the Season” the innovation comes in the structure of the song and the reworking of the placement of lyrics and not getting stuck in stale habits yet not rejecting completely what you do well. Is that indeed the titular realization? A perennial desire to revolutionize your creative aesthetic only to conclude that you can only be you but you can reconnect and reconfigure your methods and mode of expression. And to be fair does Springworks sound like a band in a worn out popular style? No. “Joke of the Season” is effective in the way Springworks has always deconstructed lo-fi psychedelic pop, the band just found a new way to give it a fresh approach. Listen to the song on Spotify and follow the band at the links below.

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Louise Burns Transports Us Into a State of Euphoric Infatuation on Chillwave Single “Bloom”

Louise Burns is channeling a bit of the eternal late night summer energy on “Bloom.” The hazy saturation of the synths billowing around Burns’ hushed yet warm vocals and clearing away by the end of the song is reminiscent of the glory heyday of early 2010’s chillwave sound and Neon Indian in particular. But Burns updates the production and the sense of nostalgia is more leaning into the melodrama underpinning that music that makes it a perfect vehicle for being caught up in strong emotions and swept away by feelings of romance and infatuation. There is a purity and clarity in Burns’ expressions of hopefulness and yearning in the song and that is what elevates the sentiments beyond the suggestion of how sad it might be as mentioned at the beginning of the song. Instead it’s easy enough to be caught up in this wave of affection along with Burns. Listen to “Bloom” on YouTube and follow the Canadian singer/songwriter at the links below.

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Lo Artiz Leans Into Her Heartache on the Neo Soul Single “get by”

Lo Artiz has taken a major bout of heartache and set it to a chill and melancholic beat with “get by.” It’s neo-soul flavor takes just a touch of the sting out of mistreatment and feeds into a spirit of wounded resilience that flows through the song. But lines like “Lately all I do is cry, but imma still get by/So clean, still whenever I walk by/You know imma get by” are so poignant it captures such a specific feeling when you feel like you didn’t do anything wrong but got treated like you don’t rate by some trifling fool who you thought might have been different. So you just lean into that feeling, that ache and relive some of those memories and ride that pain until you’re through it and maybe, just maybe, not have to revisit it with the clown of the moment and be stronger for it going into the future and preserve some of your dignity in the process. Listen to “get by” on Spotify and follow Lo Artiz at the links below.

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LINEBUG Helps Us to Find a Manageable Way of Processing a Rapidly Changing and Complex World in the Charming Stop Motion Video for Chamber Pop Single “Sideways”

“Sideways” by Danish pop duo LINEBUG is a song about drifting without direction and searching for identity in an increasingly complex world. But the song and its delightful stop motion music video takes on this subject at a creative and playfully personal manner. We see singer Line Bøgh surrounded by images seemingly assembled by a hodge podge of objects at hand, like the kinds of information, events and cultural developments that seem to be coming at us at a fast rate constantly these days, and many of these objects form the lyrics of the song as if that is one way of making sense of it all and finding a path forward by finding a way for it to make sense in a way that’s relatable and useful in your own life. The video is reminiscent of the kinds of animation one might have seen in children’s shows in the 70s and 80s and perhaps now and in deconstructing the complexity to those fundamentals the changes with which we must come to terms seems manageable. The song driven by strings and piano in a spare, chamber pop style itself makes a new way of seeing things seem palatable and desirable. Watch the video for “Sideways” on YouTube and follow LINEBUG at the links below. LINEBUG’s new album, a meditation on and exploration of similar themes as “Sideways,” Fast Changing Landscapes, released on April 21, 2023.

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Aleesha Dibbs Casts Off Pernicious Fools With Dreamlike Elegance on “Conjured You Up”

Aleesha Dibbs, photo courtesy the artist

In setting “Conjured You Up” to a soft electronic beat and layers of hazy synth with a melody in tone like something written on a Mellotron, Aleesha Dibbs gives the song a dreamlike cast. It’s like something crafted from library music but with that psychedelic pop style its lyrics about deep self-disappointment and feeling foolish at the mistreatment of an abusive person time and again. So in the lyrics Dibbs puts some distance between her own failings as a person by describing the abuser as a “fake idea” and “I conjured you up.” This framing somehow makes it easier to see these fools as manifestations of one’s own vulnerabilities rather than something or someone to which to give too much power and influence on one’s life. The song is an acknowledgment of how our very natures can attract certain energies without taking that on as an inherent flaw, but something to expect and cast off. Musically it’s reminiscent of a downtempo Black Moth Super Rainbow song and though short the song’s gently radiant melodies and textures linger with you. Listen to “Conjured You Up” on Spotify.

Nikki Oniyome Sifts Through the Fog of Social Projections on New Age Ambient Track “Underestimated”

Nikki Oniyome, photo courtesy the artists

The current of roiling ethereal tone that runs through Nikki Oniyome’s “Underestimated” hits some beautifully disorienting notes throughout the course of the song. It cycles and resonates as the vocalist speaks words about how many people interpret who you are and project their hidden and not so secret desires for you and your identity as it is reflected in their own lives and insist that such images are your truth. And the saturated and distorted synths that wash about in slow waves are like the frequency of a lucid dream that make it more clear what your own truth might be separate from the expectation of others. Musically it’s reminiscent of Alice Coltrane’s 1980s New Age era or like early Laurel Halo with a spiritual energy that lingers with you as an encouragement to embrace one’s own authentic self. Listen to “Underestimated” on Spotify and follow Nikki Oniyome at the links provided.

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Boambee’s Synthpop Single “Cactus” is a Heartfelt and Affectionate Portrait of a Complex Parental Bond

“Cactus” begins like a poem that Boambee has set to a beat with dreamlike background melodies casting a tone of regret. And the words hit heavy given the songwriter crafted the song in the wake of the passing of her father because they’re like a letter to someone with whom you had unresolved conflicts that had you the time to sit down and talk maybe discuss the hurts when they’re intertwined with lingering feelings of love the way every kid feels toward their parents especially when that love was real and despite conflicted feelings remains long after you lose that parent. Boambee imbues the song with that psychological complexity and nuance with a warmth and power in the expertly orchestrated waves and sweep of the song’s gorgeously ethereal synths and finely arranged beats. The image of the title is perfect as a symbol for a relationship that sticks in your mind with the pain and beauty in sometimes equal measure but leaning toward the positive as something that can be appreciated and valued on its own merits. Listen to “Cactus” on Spotify and connect with Boambee, the Kiwi/Aussie producer now based in Nashville, at the links below.

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Josephine Odhil’s Hazily Psychedelic Video for “Rye” Gently Drifts Into Your Mind and Guides it to Contemplative and Restful Spaces

Josephine Odhil, photo courtesy the artist

Josephine Odhil, formerly of psychedelic rock band The Mysterons, brings a gentle drift into the melodies and billowing structure of “Rye.” The lyric video by Michael Cullen with is flowing and hazy images in beautifully washed out colors matches the song’s fuzzy edges and daydreamy energy. Odhil’s melodious vocals seem to lean back into a floating reverie as elegant guitar work traces the rhythm, swells of synth bloom and cascade in slow pulses for an effect that’s soothingly hypnotic befitting the song’s impressionistic lyrics. The video and the music together are like a painting in motion and its subtle layers of texture and atmosphere sinks deep into your mind easing it into a more restful and contemplative space. Watch the video for “Rye” on YouTube and follow Odhil at the links below.