SubmitHub – Page 146 – Queen City Sounds and Art

The Ballroom Thieves Weave a Poignantly Accurate Portrait of Despair and the Will to Move Forward on “Shine”

The Ballroom Thieves, photo by Shervin Lainez

The Ballroom Thieves turn the spare guitar part and raw, tender vocals of “Shine” into a song that achingly and beautifully depicts what it feels like to be desolate, burned out and floating in moments of dissociated observations and holding on by a thread to something even if nothing seems to matter or make sense. Calin “Callie” Peters uses the image of light as a metaphor for the energy that uplifts and brings comprehension and meaning which can have fluid qualities that flow in and out of our psyche and without it we feel lost. The way the guitar phrases frame the lyrics and with touches of cello to shade in the background of the music the song comes across like a very sharp and sensitive portrait of depression and how it’s easy to get stuck when the vital energy of life and the will to be active and engaged seems out of reach and you seem unable to get out of a perpetual twilight and mostly in existing in the dark of your personal night. But the line “shine a light, turn the night back into morning, shine a light, take the night away from me” points to at least desire for help in easing out of that gloom that seems impossible to escape. The pastoral feel of the song in the end becomes a perfect vehicle for expressing some very heavy and real states of mind without the clumsy hubris and toxic positivity that is too often brought to bear on the subject. Listen to “Shine” on Spotify and connect with The Ballroom Thieves at the links below.

ballroomthieves.com

The Ballroom Thieves on Twitter

The Ballroom Thieves on Facebook

The Ballroom Thieves on Instagram

Anna Larson Gives us a Musical Vision of a Comforting and Nurturing Presence in Our Lives With “Constant Star”

Anna Larson’s piano accents on her modern classical piece “Constant Star” give an emotional nuance and an atmospheric mood that sketches an elegant and vivid sonic image of object of the title. The background electronic drone lends an added luminous aspect to the tonal choices employed in the composition and in doing so suggests multiple meanings and interpretations to the song including an unmistakable sense of emotional intimacy with the “Constant Star” not only being a celestial object inspiring imaginative speculation but a person or a passion that seems to always be there as a beacon in challenging times. It’s certainly a musical work that suggests cinematic qualities and immediately brings to mind the classical music Ken Burns has chosen for his various documentary series and here it’s part of an EP of similarly evocative soundscapes poetically titled Returned Light. Listen to “Constant Star” on Spotify and the rest of Returned Light there as well, both linked below.

Soheill Encourages Us to Step Through the Portal Into Our Best Lives in the Orchestral “The Doorway”

Soheill structures the single “The Doorway” so that it reflects its message of encouraging the listener to embrace one’s authentic self and to take the important first step of trusting your instincts and not the voices of self doubt inside your mind that prevent you from living a full life. The spare piano and Soheill’s emotive vocals coax that flicker of self awareness into action and to reach for and walk through the threshold into a new life casting off the ways that didn’t suit you even though they became a habit that met with social sanction and conformity to a standard that had nothing much to do with who you really were. The instrumentation swells in orchestral fashion and includes slowly dramatic percussion and layers of evocative keyboards and synths The arc of the song gently makes that final step into the future seem not only possible but inevitable in service to your best self. Listen to “The Doorway” on Soundcloud and follow Soheill at the website or through any of the links and social media accounts accessible through the artist’s Linktree.

soheill.com

Soheill Linktree

Sandwoman’s Warmly Intimate “Hot December” is a Tender Expression of Not Wanting to Ruin a Friendship Because You’re in Love

Sandwoman originally wrote “Hot December” in 2015 as a way to express that moment when a friendship becomes something more romantic. And this 2021 release manifests those early thoughts and songwriting in a song that places words about the fear, uncertainty and vulnerability when you take that step to see if that’s where things are going and the risk of humiliation and changing the friendship in ways that make things uncomfortable and awkward from then on forward. The word “hot” may refer to the ways it is often used but here it seems more to embody that feeling of energy welling up in you that is a welling up of anxiety over the possible consequences of your actions however they may turn out. It’s never easy opening yourself up the way you need to in order to tell someone how you feel about them in a romantic way and Sandwoman captures those waves of being on the verge. Her warm vocals processed into an ethereal bliss later in the song and the cloud of synth drone, lingering guitar washes, sleigh bells and electronic drums make it not just an actually touching and not corny love song but one that is also something of a holiday tune without explicitly being so. In Sandwoman’s case things worked out with her producer Grant Carey so it could for you too. Listen to “Hot December” on Spotify and connect with Sandwoman at the links below.

Sandwoman on Bandcamp

Sandwoman on Instagram

Mount Mural Reconciles a Conflicted Psyche on “Sickboy”

Mount Mural’s use of two seemingly opposite dynamics in “Sickboy” highlights its theme of conflicted feelings and self-examination. One of those streams of sound has a simple guitar line that traces a clear musical path and other is noisier and messier. Like one line is where one wants to be and the other is where one often is in one’s head. By the end of the song, though, it seems as though there is a reconciliation of these urges of the emotional self and not a rejection of one as both come together to work in tandem to move forward into a healthier headspace. Perhaps at that point the titular persona comes to accept himself as a being who is not just imperfect but that the antagonized aspect of his mind is really perhaps an unconscious message and impulse, an energy, to deal with issues long neglected. Fans of the more melodic end of late 90s emo and 21st century experimental guitar bands like Ought and Pile will definitely appreciate the vibe of this song. Listen to “Sickboy” on Spotify and follow Mount Mural at the links provided.

Mount Mural on Facebook

Mount Mural on Instagram

Mount Mural on YouTube

“Mirror Tooolz” Finds Ehiorobo Brilliantly Synthesizing Hyperop, Leftfield Underground Hip-Hop and Glitchcore

For the uninitiated, go into Ehiorobo’s “Mirror Tooolz” with an open mind and for just over two minutes you’ll hear a flurry of musical ideas that tie together surprisingly well even though it seems to be one string of free-associating words and ideas. The vocals have a dreamlike tenor and sound like a list of thoughts on the concept of dance and the mash-up of that and the trappings of dance culture and stylistic permutations over the last twenty-five years. Ehiorobo quite succinctly and deftly brings that together with a condensed expression of the heady emotions involved all while bringing us back to a chilled out contemplation on the future of dance. The song’s synthesis of hyperpop, leftfield underground hip-hop and glitchcore can seem disorienting at first but once the brilliance of its composition and genuinely creative use of tone and rhythm hit you in a way that makes this song an earworm. Listen to “Mirror Tooolz” on YouTube, give the rest of the Joltjacket album a listen and connect with Ehiorobo at the links provided.

Ehiorobo on Twitter

Ehiorobo on Facebook

Ehiorobo on Instagram

The Frenetic Cool of Duchamp-Killer’s “BDA – Domestic affairs” is Like the Soundtrack to a Noir Set in a Bustling City

There is an undercurrent of menace and unease in Duchamp-Killer’s song “BDA – Domestic affairs.” The trumpet sample that runs through with the fragmented and off-kilter piano loop and the piano figure near the beginning that goes off of any standard melody with the start and stop percussion all while a spectral drone resonates underneath identifies this as a jazz song in the expanded sense of that genre. Like an experimental, samples based jazz song that could serve as the opening sequence soundtrack to a gritty modern noir. Though highly detailed and packed with musical elements the song has a cool vibe that would suit an Ed Brubaker graphic novel set in a busy metropolis rather than the sleepy settings and quiet, dark underbelly environs that are usual for him. Listen to “BDA – Domestic affairs” on Soundcloud.

Bank Myna’s “Aurora (Vi Ska Sova)” is a Primeval Sound Ritual for the Awakening of the Ancient Mind

A tremulous drone and the sound of a chime being struck ease us into the action of Bank Myna’s song “Aurora (Vi Ska Sova).” The song pulls us further in with clipped, crunchy guitar riff and female vocals that float over the ensuing flow of distorted drones and processional percussion. Before you’re fully aware of it, you are in for that journey of the song to a deeper place in the earth and in your own mind in connection with the primordial and transcendent side of your consciousness and aspect of your identity that predates the imposition of modern civilization onto your psyche. It is an introspective yet liberating sensation that seems to have no formal beginning and no formal end. Fans of SubRosa and Dead Can Dance will find much to like here. Listen to “Aurora (Vi Ska Sova) on Spotify and connect with the Parisian band Bank Myna through the links on it’s Linktree below. Also look out for the group’s forthcoming album VOLAVERUNT due Feb 25, 2022.

Bank Myna Links

Asher Fleming’s “sorenashi” is a Genre Bending, Chill Synth Pop Standout

Asher Fleming, photo courtesy the artist

Asher Fleming is a producer and songwriter from Atlanta, GA whose supremely unconventional songwriting style is evident from the beginning of “sorenashi.” Drawing inspiration from electronic music including the EDM variety Fleming, who grew up and still avidly plays drums, has stumbled upon a very individual style of synth pop that recalls the early witchhouse stylings of Pictureplane and the glitch-pop work of Killd By. There is an effervescent playfulness to the music that is refreshing to the brain and this unique take on sampling and collage of sounds including Fleming’s sister Isabella on vocals. While very different from it shares an unpredictable expansiveness of spirit and unalloyed creativity and genre hopping heard in artists like Ghösh and 100 gecs. Listen to “sorenashi” on Soundcloud and follow Asher Fleming on Spotify.