SubmitHub – Page 211 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Will Samson’s “Ochre Alps” and its Music Video Depict the Transcending of Deep Anguish Through Forcing Your Mind Down Alternate Pathways

WillSamson1_sm — Will Samson, photo courtesy the artist

Will Samson’s album Paralanguage, due out December 6 through Wichita/PIAS, was inspired by his first and only experiment with microdosing psilocybin in the wake of his father’s death in 2012. The songwriter fell into a long spell of despair and psychic unmoorment and having learned about the controversial use of psilocybin as a treatment for persistent psychological trauma he underwent a program of taking in the substance under controlled conditions. The lead single from the album “Ochre Alps” features nearly falsetto vocals and strings that are at once doleful and soothing as if releasing pain through the musical equivalent of sublimation. It sounds like motes of early morning sunlight and waking feeling lighter than you did the night before. Musically it sits at the intersections of folk, modern classical and indie pop. The accompanying music video features two blindfolded figures that are figuring out how to interact with their environment with a new set of parameters with which to do so. It is symbolic, perhaps, of Samson’s own experience with his wife in learning to reconnect with the world on different terms with some of the anguish of his loss evaporated in the light of a new kind of mental clarity. Listen to “Ochre Alps” on Soundcloud, watch the poetic video on YouTube and follow Will Samson at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/6VBJxxPZ84ty9nR1nFkNNx
facebook.com/willsamsonmusic
instagram.com/will.samson

The Unconventional Structure and Subject Matter of State Park Ranger’s “The Will (feat. Cowbaby)” Makes it the Rare Strikingly Original Indie Folk Song

StateParkRanger1_crop — State Park Ranger, photo courtesy the artists

The pacing of State Park Ranger’s “The Will (featuring Cowbaby)” feels like an evolving sketch with details added as the picture and melody develop organically. It sounds almost as though we’re hearing the song being written as it goes, guided by an intuitive process and deep listening between the artists. It’s an impressionistic compositional style that subverts most current trends of songwriting in the realm of folk or indie alternative. There is no verse chorus interchange, rather the song’s progress travels in one direction exploring the Nietzschean concept of “the will” in the words but fleshing it out musically in an abstract form of indie pop like an even more subdued and introspective Neutral Milk Hotel. We hear familiar sounds but employed and set out in a way that dares not to follow the same musical paths we’ve been conditioned to hearing when that palette of sounds is utilized. That alone makes this song a fascinating listen as it does end and concludes but doesn’t resolve in a conventional sense making it similar in a way to some of Nietzsche’s enigmatic epigrams. Listen to the song on Spotify and follow State Park Rangers at the links provided.

music.apple.com/us/artist/state-park-ranger/1450085997
soundcloud.com/user-296456870
open.spotify.com/artist/30v98RhkhDjmCBleTisCG3
stateparkranger.bandcamp.com

“Stand Your Ground” is the Triumphant Anthem For an Indie Comedy Nerd Action Hero Movie Yet to Be

PeterArvidson1_crop — Peter Arvidson, photo courtesy the artist

Peter Arvidson’s “Stand Your Ground” sounds like a mixture of 80s popular music weaving together jangle/college rock, synth pop and anthemic New Wave. Some unusual mix of The Smithereens, Let’s Active and A Flock of Seagulls. Its electronics bring together chiptune elements with more vintage synths melodies to give it a retro-modern vibe so that it would be difficult to identify its musical era except for the fact that pretty much no one was mixing all those styles in songwriting until recent years. And yet, the song doesn’t feel kitschy, its message about self-empowerment and staying focused on our goals in the face of challenges sincere. One imagines this song in a current independent cinema comedy story about heroic nerds in an unironic fashion the way the music of Survivor was employed in a 1980s Sylvester Stallone vehicle. Listen to “Stand Your Ground” on Spotify and follow Peter Arvidson at the links below.

musicsubmit.com/peterarvidson
open.spotify.com/artist/0jnQgLNVrTnOzcXIpK65v1

“Body Origami” by paintbrush Could Be the Love Song Theme Music For a Futuristic New Age Holistic Health Spa

paintbrush2_sm — painbrush, photo courtesy the artists

“Body Origami” by the duo paintbrush sounds like the theme music for a spa in some alternate universe where one’s health is treated holistically with an integrated physical and emotional approach. Perfect for a song from an EP called Wellness Package. When you walk in, soft lighting and calming, hazy melodies and lush beats float through the air conveying a sense of non-invasive intimacy. The main music-making instrument for the song is the Synplant which is a soft synth that is designed to allow your musical ideas evolve in natural directions suggested by your composition. The song is a frank but tender and delicate love song that uses the metaphor of origami for the art of consensual love in the physical and emotional sense. In an era where comedian Robert Klein joked there is no double entendre, just entendre, there is a classiness in paintbrush’s charming take on the subject matter. You can to “Body Origami” on Soundcloud and follow paintbrush at any of the links below where you will find a route to check out more of Wellness Package.

paintbrushsounds.com
soundcloud.com/paintbrushsounds
open.spotify.com/artist/23su79hPZkXGzG366yTJNr
facebook.com/paintbrushsounds
instagram.com/paintbrushsounds

Aino & Miihkali’s Entrancing New Single “Tähtitarha” is an Alchemical Synthesis of Progressive Jazz and Finnish and West African Folk

AinoAndMiihkali1_sm — Aino & Miihkali, photo courtesy the artists

Aino & Miihkali borrowed the lyrics to its latest single “Tähtitarha” from the Finnish poet Eino Leino who lived from 1878 and 1926 and who is considered one of the modern pioneers of that nation’s poetry. Leino’s style reflected the influence of folk music and of the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland and Karelia compiled in the Nineteenth Century. Which is significant for Aino & Miikhali as the two have roots in North Karelia, a region of northern Europe that encompasses parts of Finland, Russia and Sweden. The title of the song and poem means translates roughly to “star garden” and the songwriting began when Aino started with a piece written on a West African stringed instrument called the kamalén n’goni while she was living in Ghana. The song was fleshed out with kantele, a Finnish instrument in the zither family, loop, vocal harmonies and Miihkali’s elegant guitar finger picking.

Aino Ruotanen has already established herself as a lead practitioner of progressive folk with the group Unirukki and Miihkali honed his performance and compositional skills at Berklee College of Music but there is a freshness and spontaneity to this song that is immediately striking. The intricacy of the interplay of stringed instruments and vocals has a jaunty playfulness that catches the ear with an organic blend of jazz, northern European folk and African rhythms. Its rich tapestry of melodies and textures transcends a simple and specific folk context as its structure utilizing compound time is hypnotic and invites your mind into the realm of the unconscious where various traditions of folk music and folklore intermingle and resonate with an expanded sense of human connection. The song is in Finnish but its cross-cultural appeal and message is strongly conveyed in its composition. Listen to “Tähtitarha” on Spotify and follow the project on its website (linked below) where you can also further explore the debut, self-titled full length album.

ainomiihkali.com

Sonny Ratcliff’s Video For Georgia Weber and The Sleeved Hearts’ “Parachute” Single Highlights the Song’s Message of Gentleness in Honest Self-Reflection

GeorgiaWeberAndTheSleevedHearts1_lg — Georgia Weber and The Sleeved Hearts, photo courtesy the artists

The translucent imagery of Georgia Weber and The Sleeved Hearts in Sonny Ratcliff’s video for the band’s new single “Parachute” is the perfect visual analogue to the song and its themes. Going from ethereal introspection to strong rhythms and a more determined pace “Parachute” is a song about learning to build your own means of keeping from going into your own life’s freefall. It’s about being transparent with yourself and honest, observing the layers of distance you make for yourself and your own truth and then being willing to reach within for the capacity to not just float with the currents but to weather them and steer your own path. Weber talks about visualizing this path and making a conscious choice to make the life you want rather than the one that most readily and easily presents itself. The intricate melodies and classical sensibility accomplished with bandmates Kenji Herbert on guitar and Nathan Ellman Bell on drums finds Weber striking a tricky balance of delicate yet directed and compassionate rather than self-coddling. Watch the video on YouTube and follow Georgia Weber and The Sleeved Hearts at the links provided. Also look out for the group’s debut full length Keeping It Real due out October 4, 2019.

georgiawebermusic.com
soundcloud.com/georgiaweberbass
open.spotify.com/artist/3jNVXgSbElAWKxzfFnUvq4
youtube.com/georgiaweberbass
twitter.com/georgiaweberbas
facebook.com/georgiaweberbass
instagram.com/georgiaweberbass

The Bergamot Side-Step the Tropes of Therapy Culture With the Insightful and Compassionate Single “Bones”

TheBergamot1_crop — The Bergamot, photo courtesy the artists

Rather than offer the tired bootstrap type talk favored by people with no real understanding of other humans, on its latest single “Bones,” The Bergamot offers a poetic insight into personal struggle without platitudes. The opening lines sets the stage for the rest of the song with a simple metaphor of how can you really get up or get anything done as a human without the internal emotional framework to do so. What do you do when things most of us take for granted aren’t there? The metaphor could stand for being in a state of depression, addiction, chronic illness or any state of mind and/or body that puts us in a place where we don’t or don’t feel like we have the internal support to get up and going on our own without help. What the song doesn’t do is patronize in its hushed, melodic atmospheres. It doesn’t offer pithy, mealy-mouthed wisdom. But most importantly it offers an attempt at understanding without judgment or a sense that the songwriters feel like they have it figured out. The Bergamot’s Nathaniel Paul Hoff has some experience with the subject matter as his brother attempted suicide nearly three years ago following a stint in rehab. Rather than take an ableist perspective, Hoff and the band crafted a song that is flush with emotion but also a message of taking it easy on yourself even as you try to get and do better and to not have unrealistic expectations about where you are so that you don’t set impossible bars to reach. It’s essentially a message of self-kindness and one that is deft and avoiding the pitfalls, the hubris and the bravado that comes with too many attempts by people doing well or with healthy coping mechanisms trying to help others whose circumstances they don’t understand and how one can be winnowed to nothing inside with nothing to snap back with. The Bergamot with this song seem to suggest a program of patience, gentleness and active listening to what your body and mind are telling you. Listen to “Bones” on Soundcloud or on the recently released album Mayflies, which released on September 19, 2019.

soundcloud.com/the-bergamot
facebook.com/TheBergamot

Blind The Thin King Evokes a Sense of the Cultural Ephemera of an Ancient or Alien Civilizations on its Sample Strewn New Ambient Single “Cloak of Misanthrope”

blind-the-thin-king-2_crop — Blind The Thin King, image courtesy the artists

Blind The Thin King’s aim is to make music that sounds like something from a lost or extra-terrestrial civilization or found by a far future society with no known cultural connection to our own—to make something for which the social and technological context is unknown. So the project’s latest single “Cloak of Misanthrope” comes across like the discovery of a music storage device that contained the information throughout an optical storage matrix that was found in pieces and through which we’re stimulating the crystalline structure to elicit sounds and we get a fascinating collage of tones, textures and a rhythm not based on anything normal but out of the cadence of seemingly random sonic data. Instead of a Hari Seldon type figure giving us the finest music of the era from the arts equivalent of Foundation, we get something like an even more corrupted, more randomized flow of sounds than the Elvis Presley hologram performance from Blade Runner 2049. It’s supposed to be challenging, it’s maybe even supposed to be off putting but there’s something about this track that keeps you listening, a sonic puzzle that tantalizes because some of the pieces are missing but if you pay close enough attention you will figure out the unifying element. Perhaps the connectors can be found across the Four Hymns LP from which “Cloak of Misanthrope” is taken. But even if not, “Cloak of Misanthrope” has an appeal similar to artifacts of ancient civilizations we don’t fully understand or the electronic transmissions from numbers stations. Yet there is a strange and haunting coherency to the song that is undeniable. Listen on Soundcloud and follow Blind The Thin King further there as well.

soundcloud.com/blindthethinking

The Mighty Avon Jnr Evoke the Harrowing Psychedelic Experiences of the Films of Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola on Industrial Post-Punk Track “Cobra, Dear Heart”

TheMightyAvonJr2_crop — The Mighty Avon Jr, photo courtesy the artists

Although Popol Vuh’s soundtrack to the 1987 film Cobra Verde, Werner Herzog’s fifth and final collaboration with Klaus Kinski, is perfectly adequate, this song, “Cobra, Deart Heart” by Irish experimental post-punk group The Mighty Avon Jnr, could very well step in with its gritty and colorful, sprawling and lush industrial soundscape. It might even work for Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre the Wrath of God as well. Bass throbs like the jungle swelter and the threat of hidden fauna, disease and the inner demons of other humans as their psyches crack under the strain of trying to survive and thrive in challenging environments. As the track progresses its vocals evolve into the realm of the wilder late 80s EBM and the distorted processing. And then the horns kick in giving the song a truly surreal feel like you’ve come upon some makeshift oasis in a hostile tropical landscape much as Willard and company did in the original cut of Apocalypse Now when they stumble upon the last refuge of former French colonists. All the shadows and light, the disorientation, the transcendence and mystery of the aforementioned films, the sense of them, flow through the entire composition. Overall the song is reminiscent of something Pigface might have done or some other Chris Connelly project but more melancholic and coherent yet just unbeholden to a narrow genre aesthetic. Listen to all nearly eleven minutes of this epic on Spotify and follow The Mighty Avon Jr at the links below.

mightyavonjnr.com
open.spotify.com/artist/4R8jAFIwOzE6L6wR1NwTQF
themightyavonjnr.bandcamp.com/album/hold-everything-dear
instagram.com/mightyavon

Non-Functional Harmony’s “—b— (the Torri in Sabina Ambient Remix)” is a Guided Meditation Through Layers of Textural and Tonal Flow

Non-FunctionalHarmony_cover — Non-Functional Harmony, “—b—” cover (cropped)

“—b— “ (the Torri in Sabina Ambient Remix) finds Non-Functional Harmony in a mode of abstraction like the charting of undercurrents in what seems to be a still body of water. Its flows of drone layers and textures are subtle as though you’re contemplating vectors of nearby breezes while meditating on the minutiae of the natural world around you to get you out of your usually conscious perspective. Tones ring out like rivulets on the desert post spring drizzle and others hover like the Aurora Borealis or clouds moving rapidly in the sky against the sun from fast moving wind that isn’t touching the ground. As your mind takes in these stimuli and your imagination and consciousness drift into an altered state the gentle winds and streams of the song’s leaves you in a zone of tranquility with the worries of everyday life dissolved by erosion in miniature. Listen to “—b—” on Soundcloud and follow Non-Functional Harmony at the links below.

nonfunctionalharmony.com
soundcloud.com/nonfunctionalharmony
open.spotify.com/artist/0qKhXF7qAINNad9x0qiRBo
twitter.com/nfharmony
instagram.com/nonfunctionalharmony