On “Horizon,” the concluding track of SANDS’ debut full-length The World’s So Cruel (released October 13, 2023), Andrew Sands brings together the rich array of sounds that he brought to the rest of the album. The guitar has a bit of pop jangle, the melodic bass line buoys the ethereal tones, multiple strands of synth course through the track and bring a nostalgic glimmer that uplifts the melancholic tones ever so slightly. It’s clearly a bittersweet farewell song and one where the emotions are mixed but the decision to part ways for the betterment of both parties is there. The final lines “Reality’s not what you expect/Don’t want to spoil your dreams.” Heavy but elegant. The style of the song recalls but the moods of chillwave but the songwriting and the way Sands has arranged how the emotional beats hit is like shoegaze after the impact of Britpop. Listen to “Horizon” on Spotify and follow SANDS at the links below.
“Mind the Gap” is a single by Berlin-based Lolita Terrorist Sounds from its harrowingly fascinating album St. Lola (released October 20, 2023). Apparently it’s a musical journey that connects London and Berlin and its music video show on 8mm is reminiscent of the kind of visuals one saw in Einstürzende Neubauten’s video for “Sabrina” – dark, lurid, spooky but in the end deeply compelling. We see a gender fluid protagonist taking a train as mentioned in the lyrics of the song through what looks like Europe of the 1970s or 1980s. The song is driven by a simple piano figure propelled by urgent percussion, some vital and haunting lap-steel presumably provided by longtime Swans member Kristof Hahn who contributed to the album. Band leader Maurizio Vitale’s vocals are somehow both intense and inviting and the song encourages the listener to do something inspiring with their lives rather than count down the days remaining to you in purely mundane pursuits. The song is in the vein of industrial post-punk as the aforementioned foundational industrial band and the likes of Crime and the City Solution and of course Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The album was recorded and produced in a studio in East Berlin in a building formerly used by presumably the Stasi during the era of the Berlin Wall. The setting and the limited use of old microphones and analog equipment gives all the songs a certain quality of spontaneity and hauntedness that suits well its themes of marginalized people and the undeniable appeal of the freedom of gritty, urban avant-garde modes of expression. The album also includes the late, great, experimental multi-media artist Rob Rutman (Steel Cello Ensemble) on bow chimes for opening track “Shaved Girl.”
As “magenta” unfolds in its flow of soft and bright tones, the song by Frij sounds like the manifestation of a time lapse view of a cloudy nebula viewed through a powerful telescope. Tones wink and resonate, linger, an arpeggio of tones like small star systems floating in view overlapping hazy fields of light as per the song title, shining through the melodic drones that flow through the song in its short course. There is a playfulness and sense of wonder conveyed in the song from the beginning to when the song slowly fades to a minimal sequence. It’s like listening to what it’s like for the mind to get stimulated and fascinated by the sights of deep space and its eternal dynamism and inspired to capture that energy for a time beyond that moment. Fans of the Hearts of Space program will appreciate Frij’s elegance of composition. Listen to “magenta” on Spotify and folow Frij at the links below.
Mary Middlefield articulates in “Sexless” a certain kind of desperation and frustration that many people can relate to at some point in their lives or for entirely too long a stretches of time. The song’s orchestral sounds and upbeat energy are a wonderful contrast to lyrics that in another context might be considered pathetic. But in Middlefield’s words we hear about how she’s not without options just none that seem appealing and she expresses how she finds even self-pleasure unsatisfying. She sings about how when she was a little younger she had that network of friends that meant she could find someone to pair off with for fun and companionship but that maybe her temperament as an artist or as a human being with regular human needs that some might see as a burden has ensured her lonely status. And she wonders how this all happened leaving her thinking, “I’m sexless and I’m not loved.” Maybe a lot of people can’t relate to it and when you watch the music video directed by Imogen Harrison you may think oh right, how is Mary Middlefield suffering from this state of things. But it happens when you have standards and you’re not someone who can feel attracted that way to just anyone for whom you feel like you’re settling. Stranger things have happened and one can only hope this plight in the life of Middleton has resolved itself or will soon and for you as well if you also find yourself “Sexless.” Watch the music video on YouTube and follow indie singer-songwriter Mary Middlefield at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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