SubmitHub – Page 42 – Queen City Sounds and Art

“Return to Sender” is talker’s Triumphant Song of Liberation From Emotionally Stifling Relationships

“Return to Sender” from talker’s 2024 debut album I’m Telling You the Truth (out June 21, 2024) is typical for the songwriter in its dramatically unorthodox presentation. The music video begins like a horror movie with perhaps undead pallbearers bringing a casket into view and opening it with talker inside and seemingly liberated from a living death to dance in choreographed moves like a vampire film in reverse. The song’s lyrics seem to be directed to a loved one, former or potentially so, who seems to find it hard to deal with her how she is in the moment. No one is always going to be how you think they need to be all the time and human life is full of flux and struggles that if we don’t feel them and express that reality and instead bury that pain and flux it can fester in your heart in unhealthy ways. The song with its richly triumphant tones are a declaration of self-acceptance. After all, if someone you love can’t talk with you about what’s going on with them in a real way is it really love? If you’re always trying to “fix” them rather than share in a moment of empathy for regular human frailty is it the kind of love you’d want to have? Sometimes you just have to listen to people and not offer what you think is a solution because a part of getting through tough emotional times is just being able to express those feelings without judgment and dismissing them. Talker’s song is about that set to music that feels like it’s bursting free of emotional limitations. Watch the video for “Return to Sender” on YouTube and follow talker at the links provided.

Sea Girls Spin Despair Into Radical Self-Acceptance on “Does Only God Know That We’re Lonely”

The slightly quavering vocals on Sea Girls’ “Does Only God Know That We’re Lonely” speaks to the vulnerability and existential fear suggested by the title. But the song which openly and frankly considers these moments of pondering questions of personal potential and accepting ourselves for who we are and life situations for what they are even though there is a cultural pressure to be and within more than that doesn’t stay stuck there. Its melodies and chords and sentiments strike out with a defiant and triumphant spirit. The song seems to say that maybe we’re not perfect or have perfect lives according certain standards but that our lives have their inherent dignity and worth and that we can’t very well live the lives of other people. The song in that way spins what could be despair into radical self-acceptance. What kind of music is it? Touchstones might include Death Cab For Cutie or Modest Mouse but Sea Girls has its own sound on the spectrum of emotionally raw and melodically vibrant pop that in times is reminiscent somehow of the tonal range and pace of Flock of Seagulls’ “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You).” Listen to “Does Only God Know That We’re Lonely” on Spotify and connect with Sea Girls at the links below. The group recently released its full length album Midnight Butterflies on June 14, 2024.

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Kai Tak’s Downtempo Dream Pop Single “Until We Leave From Here” Warmly Layers Nostalgia With Hope For the Future

“Until We Leave From Here” finds Kai Tak’s richly layered melodies streaming into the horizon as Chesley Boy’s melodious vocals opining nostalgically on where a relationship has been and where it might and should go. Musically it’s a fusion of billowy dream pop and chillwave’s introspectively romantic and expansive drones. But composer Chris King brought Annie Zhou on board to add the textural tones of the guzheng to lend the almost elusive song subtle flourishes of anchors to tactile, emotional immediacy. Its moods are reminiscent of the 80s but of an 80s that never existed making the track and the rest of the album Designed In Heaven Made In Hong Kong (out June 21, 2024 via à La Carte Records on digital download, streaming and limited edition colored vinyl) resonant with modern cinema that juxtaposes era with modern sensibilities for a hybrid aesthetic that seems fresh rather than dated. Listen to “Until We Leave From Here” on Spotify and follow Kai Tak at the links provided.

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Kai Tak on YouTube

Kait Warner Confesses the Foolish Behaviors that Serve as a Barrier to Intimacy on Orchestral Indie Rock Ballad “Rodeo Clown”

The title track to Kait Warner’s debut album Rodeo Clown (released June 14, 2024) starts off with the sound of a record of circus music getting up to speed before the clipped, rapid guitar riff brings us into a song about two people with strong personalities who maybe have more than friendship attractions to each other but get into the kind of dynamic that involves dramatic, performative gestures rather something more straight forward and tender. We’ve all seen it, people who are clearly into each other but have difficulty admitting that to themselves and accepting it, or a situation where one of those people struggles with embracing those genuine feelings in a way that allows for intimacy. Warner sings about using laughter as a cane, acting the fool and other behaviors that put up a barrier that everyone else can see through. But in being able to articulate those ways of being displays a self-awareness that offers hope in the end when heartbreak forces you to reconsider your ways. Listen to “Rodeo Clown” on YouTube and follow Kait Warner at the links below.

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Restless Spirits AKA’s Ambient Hip-Hop “Blues Omen” is a Short Form Telling of the History of the Blues

With a dub-like industrial beat and a background drone akin to cLOUDDEAD’s “Apt A (1)” Restless Spirits AKA imbues its own dreamlike spoken word song “Blues Omen” with an otherworldly energy. The song weaves in fiery, noisy guitar flare and sparkly percussive motes adding a layer of psychedelia that evolves into brightly ethereal tones streaming down over accented yet sustained bass drum beats. Through the vehicle of Matt McAteer’s John Cooper Clarke-esque vocal delivery the song tells a tale of the development of blues music and how it has permeated popular musical forms out of historical forces that made it a working class, creative idiom that has resonated well beyond its original context. The song itself isn’t in any obvious form of blues but its deep and murky mood taps into the mythological foundations of the musical form. Listen to “Blues Omen” on Spotify and follow Restless Spirits AKA at the links below. The new album Looking Back From a Distance is available now on CD, digital download and streaming.

Astari Nite’s Scuzz Glam Death Rock Song “Tongue Tied Galore” is a Thrill Ride of Paradoxically Resigned Desperation

Astari Night, photo courtesy the artists

Astari Nite’s single “Tongue Tied Galore” and its new album Resolution of Happiness (out June 21, 2024 via Negative Gain Productions on digital download, limited edition vinyl LP and streaming) has a wonderfully scuzzy edginess reminiscent of Shadow Project, Rozz Williams’ post-Christian Death band. The confident but slightly quavering vocals from Mychael Ghost speaking to feelings of existential weariness and alienation – with others and with oneself. The sparkling and fuzzy guitar work and urgent rhythms lend the song a spirit of desperation and resignation tugging at each other in opposite emotional directions. The music with its old DV camera aesthetic of the band performing in various environments and times of day looks like a future segment of the V/H/S franchise set in the group’s home town of Miami bringing to the presentation of the music a menacing resonance that suits the subject matter of the lyrics. Watch that video on YouTube and follow Astari Nite at the links below.

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Evelyn Cross Immerse You in Ambient Drift and Cosmic Textures on “Strange Behavior”

As Evelyn Cross, Nic Johns and Neal Harris utilize minimalist percussive synth patterns and impressionistic melodies to craft evocative sound environments. From their new album Oblique Tragedies (released June 20, 2024) we hear “Strange Behavior” which conjures memories of the emotional touchstones John Carpenter tapped into with his early soundtrack work as well as the more tranquil moments of Tangerine Dream’s own cinematic scoring. The percussive tones accent a journey through an ambient backdrop with flares of icy melody and swirls of harmonic drone. There is a deep sense of what might be called progressive drift to the aesthetic of the song that invites immersion within its forward moving atmospheres The title seems to suggest observations made of enigmatic environmental features in an alien landscape that is best expressed in a musical form that articulates its mysterious essence. Listen to “Strange Behavior” on Soundcloud where you can listen to the other track from Oblique Tradegies (perhaps appropriately named after Brian Eno’s and Peter Schmidt’s famous card-based method for stimulating creativity) “Logan’s Run.”

Dominic Sen Vividly Recalls Romantic Misadventures Through the Lens of Religious Trauma on Warmly Luminous Electro Pop Single “Fear of God”

In “Fear of God” Dominic Sen offers a vivid portrait of religious trauma and how it can affect and influence romantic and less than romantic relationships. The video and its visuals are like a mid-1990s alternative rock video including the out of focus moments lends itself well to its reflective yet confessional tone. But Sen’s vocals are clear though slightly distorted with a touch of processing and pitch shifting. The lyrics are more a straight narrative than a traditional song form giving it a dreamlike yet immediate quality. Perhaps unintentionally the song is reminiscent of Alanis Morissette with a world music flavor in the beats and string melody. Sen’s words recall raw memories but her delivery softens that blow like a powerful memory that one can recall with the intensity of that moment but speak to it through the filter of a processed memory that was a part of the path that brought you to where you are today. Watch the video for “Fear of God” on YouTube and follow Dominic Sen at the links below.

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Dominic Sen on Twitter

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Get Swept Up in the Breezy, Psychedelic Folk Art Rock of The Silver Abduction’s “Quarter To Two”

The Silver Abduction, photo courtesy the artists

The Silver Abduction debuts with its single “Quarter To Two” and a sound that is both intimate and wintry. A ghostly drone quickly gives way to an uptempo rhythm, vintage organ and melodious and expressive vocals that make tasteful use of touches of vibrato that bring to the song a vividness of tone contrasting a nostalgic flavor with a what feels like emotional intentionality. In moments the songwriting is reminiscent of Margo Guryan or Broadcast in an urgent, psychedelic folk mode. There is an immediacy to the song from beginning to end that sweeps you up in its momentum and words about late night adventures. Listen to “Quarter To Two” on Spotify and follow The Silver Abduction at the links below. The group’s self-titled full-length becomes available on August 30, 2024 on digital download, streaming and limited edition vinyl.

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KapTep’s “Longlat” is an Transcendent Journey Immersed in Luminous Ambient Fog and Harmonic Drones

KapTep’s “Longlat” begins with a harmonic drone like a luminous fog that surrounds what sounds like human activity and the operation of radio equipment in the middle distance. The sense of drift brings to mind the sensation of being on a boat gliding through tranquil waters in an evening fog faintly lit by moonlight and starshine. It’s the kind of music one heard in Werner Herzog’s more existential films of the 70s and early 80s that suggest entering a zone or a liminal moment where the extraordinary and significant is unfolding around you like a spiritually resonant dream state. As the song progresses the harmonic drone shifts almost imperceptibly into higher registers and the touches of abstract strings emerge and give way to the noises of a signal transmission to the end of the piece. The song is an adventure the same way perhaps films like Beyond the Black Rainbow or Monsters were beyond the action sequences to the way the mood of the film shifts reflecting a change in the essence of the characters in modes subtle but deep and difficult to articulate if sensed with clarity. Listen to “Longlat” on Spotify where you can listen to the new KapTep album Latitude Longitude which dropped June 7, 2024 also available for digital download on Bandcamp.