Song Review – Page 29 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Non-Functional Harmony’s Ambient Modern Classical Piece “Days” is a Sustained Expression of Melancholic Emotional Solidarity

An unsettled, melancholic, almost resigned mood courses through Non-Functional Harmony “Days.” It’s nearly abstract, processed piano chords stream into the horizon and a simple string line like a pall over a desolate space drifts in and through the soundscape in seeming mournful resonance about uncertain and perilous times. There is a palpable sense of loss in the track that looms even more when the vocal sounds bloom in cold sonic colors, slowly expanding arcs of tone like penitents seeking mercy from a seemingly hopeless situation for which they don’t know the reason for their suffering. It’s a moving song and while it doesn’t offer false hope or faint fires of resistance it expresses a feeling like one will have to gird oneself against a wave of darkness in the world for awhile even after what feels like years of struggle and sustained perseverance. And yet there is a comfort in its sounds through a spirit of emotional solidarity. Listen to “Days” on Spotify and follow Non-Functional Harmony at the links below.

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Per Störby Jutbring’s Cinematic, Melancholic and Heartbreaking Single “Swan Shaped Kite” Fuses Pop Accessibility and Classical Music Elegance

Per Störby Jutbring, photo courtesy the artist

Per Störby Jutbring combines pop song ideas with classical music performed by the Swedish The Malva Quartet for the warmly rendered album Tenants Of Misty Mansion (According To The Landlord) (out November 22, 2024 via HOOB Records). In the video for the lead single “Swan Shaped Kit” we see an elegantly detailed stop motion animation reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s 2009 film Fantastic Mr. Fox. But in the song there is a sense of melancholic reflection and quiet yearning evoked by interweaving stings floating over rich low end. We see anthropomorphic figures going through the motions of daily mundanity within the cut out view of a house that sits empty part of the time conveying a sense of loneliness and isolation. The figures sometimes seem to stand as if caught in a moment of poignant reverie on the brink of crying but not quite crossing over. It’s a beautiful piece of music and without needing the underlying narrative it is both musically and with the accompanying video visually affecting. Watch the video for “Swan Shaped Kite” on YouTube and follow Per Störby Jutbring at the links provided.

perstorbyjutbring.com

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Unlettered’s Dissonant Post-punk Single “Leave Behind” is Burns Like a Noisy, Maximalist, Lo-Fi Space Rock

Unlettered’s “Leave Behind” immediately hits with sonic resonances recalling somehow both the more krautrock end of Yo La Tengo and the layered sonics of Bailter Space or perhaps in moments that band’s post-punk predecessors The Gordons. The vocals are underneath the soundscape ever so slightly but discernible all while as noisy flakes of tone spark off the driving rhythm. The bass line carries the song toward the middle as guitar echoes with a clashing/shimmering effect. Although well arranged dissonance is a feature of the song the net effect is as though you’re hearing an unconventional melodic structure as the song is undeniably catchy in its splintery and maximalist lo-fi glory. Listen to “Leave Behind” on Spotify and follow NYC’s Unlettered at the links below. The project’s latest album Five Mile Point released on November 22, 2024.

unlettered.net

Unlettered on Instagram

Unlettered on Bandcamp

Memory Scale’s Enveloping and Spacious “Moment of Inertia” is Like a Train Journey Through a Fog Shrouded Morning

Early into the orchestration of sonic vectors and percussive tonality of Memory Scale’s “Moment of Inertia” there is an almost palpable sense of the title as the pace of the composition lifts off. He repeating sounds like a great wheel resonating in the background almost serves as a timer of the energy generated in the movement of the song though its chill atmospheres and spaciousness sound like a chamber of sustained and floating tones interacting with one another in hazy, distant luminosity. There’s a sense of being in a train looking out into a foggy day and making out the muted shapes of landscape as you move forward into a distant destination. The song works both as an aurally tactile experience of drifting and streaming textures but also as one of soothing yet evocative harmonic presences. Listen to “Moment of Inertia” on Spotify and follow French composer Memory Scale at the links below. The single comes from the Fauna compilation curated by Franck Zaragoza (aka Ocoeur) released December 10, 2024, International Animal Rights Day with proceeds donated to French animal rights non-profit L214.

Memory Scale on Twitter

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Memory Scale on Instagram

Memory Scale on Bandcamp

KAPUT’s Frantic, Organic Beats and Haunting Spaciousness in “Runner” Evoke a Sense of a Calm in a Storm of Clearing Your Head of Intrusive Thoughts

KAPUT’s use of organic percussive tones to set both a frantic and headlong and languid beat in parallel on “Runner” mirrors the song’s themes perfectly. The way you can feel anxious and in a hurry while caught up in dreamlike moments in passages of fever dream calm when intrusive thoughts and ghosts of past and current concerns can get mixed up in distracting you from being in the moment. But in the rattles, clicks, clinks throughout the song sound like a shaking off of these drags on the mind. The resonant piano alongside Nadia Garofalo’s almost deadpan but more slightly weary vocal delivery casts the song in a seeming context of having been through this struggle before of working through getting to be able to reach a point of focus clear of the static of what’s been limiting you and tripping up the progress you’d like to be making. The rich textural rhythms and haunting spaciousness of the song gives it a truly unique sound that while stylistically is adjacent to post-punk is very much its own thing. Listen to “Runner” on Spotify and follow Chicago’s KAPUT at the links below.

KAPUT on Instagram

KAPUT on Bandcamp

KAPUT on YouTube

Elodie Gervaise Speaks to the Manifestation of a True Love of Self on Dreamlike Hip-Hop Single “King of Cups”

Elodie Gervaise, photo courtesy the artist

Elodie Gervaise nearly whispers in the close up vocal delivery as if in confidence with listener of “King of Cups.” It’s fitting for a song that on the surface seems to be an ode to an ideal lover but is really a kind of mantra of the reconciliation within oneself and loving oneself the one needs to be first and foremost through symbolic imagery through the kind of archetype represented by the tarot figure of named in the title. Gervaise’s vocals float through lightly bouncing rhythms and circling swells of background vocals like a trap style beat crafted for her words of creative visualization and focusing on manifesting within oneself the traits one seeks in the world around you. It’s almost like a spoken word piece with dreamlike resonance and both introspective and expansive. Listen to “King of Cups” on Spotify and follow Elodie Gervaise on Instagram.

Ben Lukas Boysen’s Ambient Single “Alta Ripa” is the Sound of Easing Into a Time of Rest

Ben Lukas Boysen, photo courtesy the artist

“Alta Ripa” comes in like a slow moving snowstorm late at night. Ben Lukas Boysen’s arrangements of harmonic drones roil languidly and blanket the soundscape with cool, subtle layers that drift and flow, conveying a sense of settling in. The harmonies linger and dissolve into the generated mood. It’s like hearing distant horns signaling a time of rest and reflection in some distant future when the world is at rest and able to indulge some extended periods of inactivity imposed by the onset of winter at least for a night or a two. The sound can wax melancholic but ultimately it is one of ease into a headspace of peace. Listen to “Alta Ripa” on YouTube and follow Ben Lukas Boysen at the links below.

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Baldemar’s Shimmering Dream Pop Single “Vampire Thoughts” is an Elegant Unraveling of Tangled Emotions

The melodic shimmer opening Baldemar’s “Vampire Thoughts” lets you know you’re in for a song that is filled with mixed emotions, some nostalgic, some bittersweet, some melancholic, others regretful. The song is about the kinds of thoughts that leech the exuberance out of life while delving into how these thoughts and patterns of mind we might have roots in our experiences and a habit of dwelling on the moments that sink deep into our psyches. Though the song has a lo-fi production aspect it suits the mood of the song perfectly as it sounds like something out of daydreams and flights of self-reflective fancy that help you through dark times and personal doldrums to get where you may need to land in the end once you’ve process the tangle of emotions and the thoughts that reinforce them. It’s a striking piece of music on working through your heart’s turmoil to get back to yourself authentically. Listen to “Vampire Thoughts” on Spotify and follow Baldemar at the links below.

TV Guy Productions Goes a Little Mad at Times on Noisy Psychedelic Single “And Just Like That”

TV Guy Productions’ “And Just Like That” sounds like Brian Weinberg was tapping into whatever frequencies in the cosmos the Butthole Surfers were when they wrote “Pepper.” The pounding percussion and the immediate shifting between distorted and more dreamlike vocals and the spoken word and the singing, it has parallels. But there is more overt synth in the TV Guy Productions song and ghostly chimes near mid-song to signal when things get more demented again with Weinberg’s pronouncements of being confused and lost and reveling in it rather than despairing. It lends the song an appealing touch of madness in the face of endless mundane demands Weinberg lists in various parts of the song and who can’t relate to wanting to upend the pressure of all of that? In this song Weinberg reclaims a bit of freedom from everyday life that you can indulge in alongside with him. Listen to “And Just Like That” on Spotify and follow TV Guy Productions on Instagram.

The Dionisaf Remix of Zen Lemon’s Ambient Single “Relief” Bypasses the Crutch of Language in Effecting Its Soothing Resonance

“Relief (Remix by Dionisaf” by Zen Lemon is from the first release of a compilation of remixes from artists on the Ambient Cat imprint. As per the label’s output so far the already immersive original is given a treatment that more or less transforms the song into something new. The original mix of “Relief” is flowing with saturated tones and a more in the foreground composition. This remix draws out the drifting background tones and emphasizes the sense of being at the edge of a body of water with a harmonic fog that courses through the track with the energy of a soothing enigma in that it gets into your ears and like the title of the song suggests works a sonic alchemy that puts the heart at rest and focuses the mind on casting off sources of anxiety without having to exert an ounce of effort. More cohesive tones resonate and fade in a rhythm that comforts without the crutch of language to effect its calming resonance. Listen to “Relief (Remix by Dionisaf)” on Zen Lemon on Spotify.