Song Review – Page 50 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Mr. Gnome Poetically Evokes the Multiple Existential Crises With a Heartwarming Tenderness on Psychedelic Art Pop Single “Mind’s Gone”

With its languid, shuffling pace, Mr. Gnome’s “Mind’s Gone” is a day dream-y meditation on existential crisis and a tentative acceptance of uncertainty. The chrous of “My mind’s gone, I don’t even know just where to find it, I don’t even know just where it’s hidin’” speaks to being in a place where you’re questioning everything at a time in your life when everything seems up in the air and you try to maintain but you’re not sure you can. The simple rhythm, the echoing piano chords and the slightly distorted vocals with the hint of background spectral drone create the impression of despite a soul-felt state of having felt like you were on the right path and doing the right things and realizing that the carpet has been yanked out from underneath you. Over the past several years many people especially in the creative space have felt this and the pandemic amplified the precarious ability to pursue one’s art with integrity and without heavy distraction. With the cost of living having boosted egregiously over the past 12 years or more you can feel like what do you have to do to survive because the foundations of life have been eroded so quickly and then the world seems to be falling apart so what do you do? You try to hang on and hold onto the things that give you life meaning and if you’re a songwriter you write about that situation with a poetic truth and make music that doesn’t feel like it’s trying to evade a clear and present reality and struggle which Mr. Gnome has done here and on the rest of it’s new record A Sliver of Space due out for streaming, digital download and on CD and vinyl on September 27, 2024. Listen to “Mind’s Gone” on YouTube and follow the Cleveland-based experimental rock band at the links below.

mrgnome.com

Mr. Gnome on Twitter

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ChooKi Expunges Toxic Influences on Hyperpop Darkwave Single “World Is Mine”

ChooKi’s mastery of creative production brings to “World Is Mine” a layered aesthetic that enhances her expression of themes of reclaiming her own power. The pitch bending is reminiscent of hyper pop but the beat is more measured and refreshingly not glitched out as it contrasts effectively with how the other sounds and experiments in unconventional melody structure seem to be able to wander and resolve where they will. The song and its lyrics seem to be a clear evocation of the concept of true self-cultivation and allowing oneself to grow and develop from an authentic place and perspective rather than be warped or diverted by bad faith actors in your life or simply those that for whatever reason of their own background can’t help but try to diminish those with whom they come into contact in small yet significant ways. In the song you can hear the songwriter’s efforts to strain the toxins of undue and non-beneficial influence out of her psyche, a process which takes time and thus the song’s pace is one informed by patience with self but with the real effort put into the free flowing expressions as the practice of fortifying a genuine sense of self built on a healthy and compassionate foundation. Fans of Björk and Yeule will get a lot out of the song. Listen to “World Is Mine” on Spotify and follow ChooKi on Instagram.

Callummm Transmutes a Shower Holder Into an Object of Hypnotic Psychological Resonance for Ambient Track “Shower Bath”

Callummm found shower holder in his dad’s garden a few years ago and as though he had discovered an ancient artifact of unknown origin with powers of spiritual resonance he discovered once he bowed it and found it had multiple possibilities as a sound source. Perhaps the most sublime so far has become the track titled, appropriately enough, “Shower Bath.” In the music video we see Callummm carrying the item around on a walk through the street with streaks of color streaming down the field of vision as though the frequencies are opening a perceptual door to another world. The hypnotic and radiant tones have a slow shimmer that while repetitive has an undeniably compelling quality that holds your attention like an ambient piece built upon iterative frequency shifts in an endless feedback loop that yields other frequencies that distort off each other so that the sounds when layered produce an effect like your brain went on a journey inexplicable in mere words but which feels curiously satisfying in the end. Watch the video for “Shower Bath” on YouTube and follow Callummm at the links provided.

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SUUNS Conjure a Sense of the Otherworldly Epic on Indie Art Rock Single “Overture”

The minimal kick drum beat that runs through the first part of “Overture” by SUUNS is like a faint heartbeat underneath the glittering synth figure. The vocals sound like they’re reading from a mix of an existential diary and mystical poetry as they sing lines like “Blink twice. Your eyes are full of heaven. Cross with me to the other side” and “Do yo hear my voice? Do you hear my dreams?” And it all builds to moments of sublime exultation mid-song with orchestrated pulses of sound and high pitched dissonant distortion like the song is overheating and ready to burst right before the end when the song enigmatically ends with the line “We bummed a ride on dead end streets and lost our way on the road to Mecca, free.” It all sounds like something promising something even more glorious ahead, a resolution to the mysterious imagery and poetry of the rest of the song and yet it’s a piece that sits in the middle of the Canadian group’s new album The Breaks (out September 6, 2024 via Joyful Noise Recordings on CD, red vinyl and for digital download and streaming). But that’s long been one of the band’s appeals of nearly surreal lyrics, unconventional sonics arranged into a coherent song that appeal to fans of left field indie rock and the avant-garde both. But more than anything for this record it piques the interest to hear what else SUNNS has been crafting since the release of its 2021 album The Witness and thus the title is fitting for the song itself and where it fits in the context of a record. Listen to “Overture” on Spotify and follow SUUNS at the links below.

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Vince Nudo’s “Everyone Here Reminds Me of You” is a Stirring, Cinematic Piece of Transcendent Ambient Soundscaping

Vince Nudo recently released his soundtrack album to the documentary film Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads & Hallucinations on July 26, 2024 as the first release on hs own record label Doom to Bloom. The gorgeously sprawling concluding track “Everyone Here Reminds Me of You” builds with layers of harmonic loops and threads of drone that flow through and add an inflection of mood that create a rich soundscape that is minimal in its sonic signature but constantly evolving, drawing you further into a narrative suggested by the title. The arpeggiated figure that runs throughout the piece is hypnotic and anchors each element that build the song to an increasingly rich and dramatic cinematic mood that sounds like something from a Michael Mann film. Think Moby’s “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters” or Kronos Quartet’s contributions to the soundtrack of Heat as well. It has a similar quality of entering into a heightened dream state with its blend of tranquility and sense of transcending normal worldly boundaries. Listen to “Everyone Here Reminds Me of You” on Spotify and follow Nudo at the links below. Some may know Nudo for his work as the drummer in Kurt Vile’s backing band The Violators as his time as the drummer and founding member of Priestess but it’s clear his efforts in sound design and experimental music while not on the road have been fruitful as well.

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The Otherworldly Tones and Textures of Franco Esteve’s “Weirdly Bent” May Linger on the Edges Your Daydreams

Franco Esteve, photo courtesy the artist

Puerto Rican composer and multi-instrumentalist Franco Esteve has gifted us with a song that sounds like music from a reality a quantum shift away from our own in “Weirdly Bent.” Esteve utilizes processed organic sounds and pure electronics in a seemingly intuitive flow of tones and textures that float in space and drift where they will and resonate with stimulating yet calming frequencies. It is incredibly easy to get lost in the music Esteve has created with the track in the vein of the likes of “Deep Blue Day” by Brian Eno but perhaps more like something that has had brushes of influence from 90s IDM like Aphex Twin or Lifeforms-period The Future Sound of London; perhaps Esteve got into Vladislav Delay’s experiments in tonal textural flow. Whatever the roots and inspirations, “Weirdly Bent” lingers with you in its benevolently haunting beauty and unconventional use of melody and harmony as it truly lives up to its name. Listen to the song on Spotify and follow Franco Esteve at the links below.

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8mm’s Smoldering Downtempo Single “Over and Over” is Like a Mantra to Soothe One’s Lingering Heartache

The minimal piano intro with a hovering harmonic drone at the beginning of 8mm’s “Over and Over” creates a slight sense of anticipation for what’s to come. The project comprised of producer/mixer Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, No Doubt, A Perfect Circle), vocalist Juliette Beavan and guitarist composer Jonathan Radtke (Filter, Kill Hannah) offers this time out a song that feels like late night musings in a smoldering downtempo jazz mode cast in streams of tone that ring out and linger like the sentiments expressed in the song. It seems to be about a relationship in which one person has been waiting around too long for commitment from the other person after an initial spark the embers of which persist beyond any reasonable hope. It would sound foolish as the line “A melody a fool believes” suggests but it’s not an uncommon experience for anyone that feels fully and deeply even for people and things in their lives that disappoint them. There is something beautiful in the brooding tragedy of the song whose looping lines of “Over and over and over and over” is like a self-soothing mantra to get oneself through the periods when the heartache seems to haunt you the most. Listen to “Over and Over” on Spotify and follow 8mm at the links below. The band’s new album Black Cat releases on September 13, 2024 on digital download, streaming and limited edition colored vinyl.

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Parallel’s “Death or Oblivion” Blurs the Line Between Post-Punk and Shoegaze in a Contemplative Expression of Faint Hope in the Face of Existential Dread

The guitar tones and interplay in Parallel’s “Death or Oblivion” is refreshingly distinct and clear in the realm of where post-punk and shoegaze blur the stylistic line. Though the vocals are understated and slightly hazy in the mix they sit well in the mix offering a poetic commentary on the connection between the ravages of climate change and existential dread in the face of a seemingly doomed future. The arcs of descending melody anchored by pulsing yet crisp bass lines and widely expressive percussion enhance a contemplative mood yet one driven by an urge to express what’s in one’s head as a means of giving it explicable form in a way that inspires emotional movement rather than getting stuck in a pit of psychological stasis of being overwhelmed. There is a bit of Seventeen Seconds-period The Cure in the dynamics of the outro and fans of The Chameleons will appreciate the deep clarity in the song’s tonal mix. Listen to “Death or Oblivion” no Spotify and follow Oakland’s Parallel at the links below. The group’s new mini-album Flooded released via Cherub Dream Records July 10, 2024 on streaming, download, cassette and vinyl.

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Parallel on YouTube

Easy Sleeper Puts an Upbeat Spin on the Introspective Melodies of Jangle-y Post-punk Single “Feeling Good All the Time”

Easy Sleeper, photo courtesy the artists

Easy Sleeper lays out “Feeling Good All the Time” in what feels like a collage of memory with effective uses of starts and stops. This suits what seems to be the themes of the song which are learning to appreciate the good things and the people in your life and be in the moment and to enjoy life’s little joys without coming to see them as ends I themselves. Musically the sparkling, jangly guitar work and the sometimes charmingly, intentionally rough vocals nearly shouted in moments provide the kind of contrast one hears in a Protomartyr song except that Easy Sleeper favors more ethereal melodies that lend the song an introspective quality that culminates in the beautifully orchestrated tonal bends and swirl to echo at the end of the song. Thus, what could be a paradoxically effervescent, melancholic song ends with an upbeat flourish. Listen to “Feeling Good All the Time” on Spotify and follow Easy Sleeper at the links provided. The group’s new album A Sacred Way of Living releases August 30, 2024.

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Margo Scout’s Shimmery Dream Pop Single “Otters” is a Song About Setting Boundaries and Not Getting Lost in Others or Yourself

Margo Scout’s shimmery guitar work on “Otters” is like something you’d hear off a late 80s Cocteau Twins record—faintly luminous, transporting and impressionistic in arrangement. But it is joined by flecks of tonal percussion over the more expressive rhythms. All in support of Scout’s melodiously breathy vocals intoning introspectively about habits of codependency in a relationship and learning to set the boundaries for oneself not only to protect oneself from the behavior of others but also as a means of living a psychologically independent life. The concluding line of the song “Gotta learn to breathe by yourself, I can’t be your only hope” spells out the dynamic Scout has explored throughout the song and the way it can be easy, in pursuit of love and showing love blurring those lines of self in unhealthy ways that be harmful to everyone involved. It’s a hard lesson but Scout expresses it in such lush and gentle tones that the song doesn’t hit as stark and harsh, rather delivered with an affectionate spirit. The title of the song and the subsequent imagery also suggests a playfulness that may not be obvious at first and in that the song conveys that we’re learning a lot of this as we go and we can be kind in our mistake making. Listen to “Otter” on Spotify and follow Margo Scout at the links below.

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