Queen City Sounds and Art

Slut Magic’s Multi-Genre Love Song “Rainbow Eyes” Takes Aim at Conformist Cultural Narratives

SlutMagic_RainbowEyes_cover2_crop — Slut Magic “Rainbow Eyes” cover (cropped)

Slut Magic’s collaboration with Gud Babu on “Rainbow Eyes” brings together a broad spectrum of musical elements from live instruments, samples, politically charged raps, melancholic vocals and downtempo structure. The song progresses as a succession of layers of emotional intensity before dropping off into the sound of engines with a doleful violin over the top. The whole song is crafted in a way to give it multiple dynamics that somehow sync up in the overall architecture of a song that refuses to sit comfortably in a single genre. It’s a hybrid of hip-hop, darkwave and indie rock without sounding like its trying too hard to make those instincts work together. The narrative of a love song overlaps with social criticism in a way that we don’t hear often enough. Supposedly this group tours in flamboyant outfits and and the “Deep South” can expect a tour from the group in its “Slut Magic School Bus” in support of its new album whose title is as yet secret and the color of its vinyl similarly under wraps. Listen to “Rainbow Eyes” on Soundcloud and follow the band at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/slutmagic
open.spotify.com/artist/2jk2rYTZiFlmgzbR0MwL6i
slutmagicmusic.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/slutmagicmusic

“A Safe Warm Space at The End of The World” by Ambient Duo Pink Sky is the Sound of a Zen-like Acceptance of the Last Chapter of the Story of the Cosmos as We Know It

PinkSky1_sm — Pink Sky, photo courtesy the artists

“A Safe Warm Space at The End of The World” by Pink Sky sounds not like a mournful end of the world. It is not the dark, claustrophobic vision like William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land, it is not the destructive end of an apocalypse. It is more like the closing chapter of a beloved story. It is a coming together of the strands of existence and meeting with your loved ones one last time before the world as you know it comes to its end or transitions into something else. During its more than thirteen minutes of hazy but bright drones, bubbling tones, oscillating melodies, shimmering high notes and other streams of sound mixing together, “A Safe Warm Space at The End of The World” feels like more an acceptance of the end rather than fear. There is a sense of trust in what comes next even if you can’t know what it will be or if your formal existence will be part of the next world. In the last story of Clifford D. Simak’s 1952 science fiction classic City wherein a sentient mutant observes the triumph of the ants over the earth and rather than seek to wipe them out he accepts their path and chooses to find his own fate in the rest of the universe. A bit of that benevolent resignation is in the essence of this song. There’s something to be said for reaching periods of denouement in your life, Pink Sky have just managed to articulate that in a soothing beautiful way with this track. Listen to the song on Soundcloud and follow Pink Sky at the links below where you can listen to the rest of the band’s new LP meditations.

pinkskymusic.com/epk
soundcloud.com/pinkskymusic/sets/meditations/s-hMtMe
pinksky.bandcamp.com

Maren Hill Flips the Script on Self-Sabotage in Her Jazzy New Single “Reset”

MarenHill1_lg — Maren Hill, photo courtesy the artist

“Reset” finds Maren Hill setting a scene for us, one that she has known well, one to which she hopes to never return. And that is a place in your head when you’re in a cycle of reliving self-sabotaging scripts born of narratives of unproductive self-criticism and second guessing and the habits that reinforce that circuit of behavior until you discover that it is possible to break that chain when you can say to yourself about those habits, by externalizing them as a kind of character in your life and leaving them, “you’re no good for me.” The swell of horns and and percussion reflect that struggle with the overwhelming sounds clashing in your brain until they subside with Hill singing the outro, “Never going back.” The song never fully goes to some dire place musically while expressing those places so eloquently showcasing how Hill deftly points out to herself and others that these seemingly insurmountable self-stumbling blocks are in fact not so difficult to overcome if you keep trying and remain in better practices to replace your bad habits. Listen to Hill’s richly jazz-inflected R&B song “Reset” on YouTube. Fans of Amy Winehouse will find much to like with Hill’s vocal flair and attitude.

Molly Bealand Beautifully Conveys a Sense of Trepidation and Trust on “There Lies My Love”

MollyBealand3_crop — Molly Bealand, photo courtesy the artist

Listening to “There Lies My Love” by Molly Beanland conjures visions of the singer walking through an environment of glowing white walls and staircases made of clouds and sunlight. There is a cool quality to her voice but a warm tone to the song and her drawn out notes sound like she’s singing out into a void to reach someone she knows has to be out there but is out of sight. The interplay of vocal styles and tones suggest a versatility mirrored by DJ Distance’s rich production with voice, synth and rhythm working synergistically to accent and buoy each other in transporting the listener to an elevated realm of emotion even though we discover the song has a twinge of melancholy in taking a risk at opening the soft insides of your heart to another. An obvious touchstone to this track would be late 80s and early 90s Cocteau Twins but also the similarly affecting and deeply atmospheric music of Them Are Us Too and Kennedy Ashlyn’s solo work as SRSQ. Listen to “There Lies My Love” on Soundcloud where you can follow Molly Bealand’s worth further including her 2019 EP In the Blue Forever.

soundcloud.com/mollybeanland

With Unconventional, Minimal Elements GINERVA’s Touching “Burning” is a Rare Love Song Without the Melodrama

GINERVA1_sm — GINERVA, photo courtesy the artist

GINERVA’s “Burning” single sounds like waking from a nap with the percolating, minimalist beat. Her vocals shift fluidly from warm and present to the ethereal and contemplative. The sound of scratched strings provide are an interesting unconventionally percussive counterpoint to the minimal guitar work. The saxophone strides into the mix later in the song like the sound of the sun setting into twilight at the end of peaceful, easy day spending time with your love. There’s in an element of sound design to the way the music is composed and it is at times reminiscent of Yann Tiersen’s soundtrack work in its bright tones and upward sweeping progressions. The affection emanating from the song is palpable without seeming cloying because GINERVA strikes the perfect balance of romance with atmosphere. The song sounds like GINERVA is looking forward to the future rather than mourning that the day has to be over and it elevates the tone of the song to a sweet place in the brain. Listen to “Burning” on Soundcloud and follow the songwriter at the links below.

soundcloud.com/ginevra-2
facebook.com/ginevralumusic
instagram.com/ginevralumusic

Hannah Connelly’s Heartbreaking New Single “From Where You Are” Is a Poignant Journey From Denial to Acceptance of the Passing of a Loved One

HannahConnolly2_crop — Hannah Connolly “From Where You Are,” image courtesy the artist

Textural guitar strumming and ghosts of pedal steel frame Hannah Connolly’s finely expressive vocals on the tender, gentle yet heartbreaking new single “From Where You Are” The song is about the loss of her brother and her words tell of the confusion and simple denial of the truth before her. The wishful thinking in the way many of us need as a cushion between our psyches and the death of a loved one with the necessary self-deceptions and refusal to believe as expressed in the line “Maybe when I wake, this will all be over.” But even when you know how many of us find the truth unacceptable until it is impossible to believe otherwise. Connolly relates taking the flight to the services and describes well those emotions mixing in our heads whether we fly out or travel across town, “Window seat 10,000 stories high and I’m too tired to hide the tears in my eyes.” The reality is starting to hit and still Connelly sings “Doesn’t quite feel real, maybe I’m just dreaming but I’m not asleep.” But in the end it is cruel to ourselves and others to deny the passing of our loved ones because it puts off feeling that deep hurt that may strike us at times for the rest of our lives and in accepting the mortality of those closest to us, Connolly gives us a poignant image of how much the acceptance can pain us as well when she sings “Useless wishes falling through the dark.” In the end the elegant and luminous treatment of the subject hints that even if we take the hurt of the loss inside and feel it so poignantly there is a hope of processing the grief even if we will miss that person forever. Listen to “From Where You Are” on Soundcloud and look out for Connolly’s debut album due for release in late 2019.

Valerie Warntz’s “4 AM” is an Orchestral Evocation of Mixed Emotions Cast Into the Night

ValerieWarntz1_crop — Valerie Warntz, photo courtesy the artist

“It’s 4 AM, the windows are open wide,” Valerie Warntz sings at the top of the chorus of the song “4 AM” sounding like she’s been there before, up too late contemplating looking back on the night, back on her life wondering how she got here and why she keeps doing this to herself. One imagines her looking out into the pre-dawn night when anyone normal that doesn’t have an overnight job or crawling back from a shift in the service industry is already asleep after a long night. The accented piano line, the pulses of electronic bass and Warntz’s voice interact like a miniature orchestra giving voice to that moment in your life when maybe you feel confused about a relationship and where it’s going or where it went wrong with someone part of you doesn’t want to live without but another part of you know is causing you the kind of emotional distress to be up late but not sure if that means the feelings are deep or if those deep feelings are a sort of rationalization of the repeated pain you experience in your connection with that person. Except that the song sounds like the aftermath of the initial inner turmoil and you’re just contemplating what to do from here and if it’s all worth salvaging but knowing, as much as you don’t want to admit it to yourself, despite the comforts you’ve enjoyed, that it’s over. The song is part of Warntz’s album Revelation due for release later in 2019 but for now you can listen on Soundcloud and follow Valerie Warntz at the links below.

soundcloud.com/valeriewarntz
youtube.com/channel/UCI_n4C_0SZKdheL7I_BTJig
twitter.com/ValerieWarntz
instagram.com/warntz

“Move” by Blush FM is the Sound of Someone Who Has Long Cast Off the Emotional Grip of Someone Bad For Them

BlushFM1_crop — Blush FM, photo courtesy the artist

The hushed piano and vocals of Blush FM’s “Move” at times reminds one of an inverted version of Wham!’s “Everything She Wants” with some choice reverse delay on the keyboards. Synths wail in slow motion swirl around the vocals like sonic fog. Although it’s essentially a song declaring a casting off of unrealistic and draining expectations in a relationship there is a sultry tone to the melody as if written from a time in the future when the poignant ache of the moment is a memory being mulled over and processed in the hindsight of life experience and having the emotional vocabulary to put things in their proper context. The song feels intimate and present but the immediacy of the split has the aforementioned quality of discussing the photograph of an old love whose memory conjures those feelings all over again but without the ability to send you into a dark place, merely a melancholic frame of mind. When Blush FM sings “I can’t do what you want me to do, I don’t know how to move that way” and “Can I mention that I’ve put in all of my time” it sounds both romantic and weary, an interesting quality in a pop song where declarations of forever love or soul searing pain are the tropes. This song is for people who can still feel but aren’t in the grip of influence of someone bad for them. Listen to “Move” on Soundcloud.

Blood Child Bursts Restrictive Cultural Mores On the Noisy and Rebellious “Psycho”

BloodChild2_sm — Blood Child, photo courtesy the artists

Blood Child balances raw noise, introspective melody and splintered rhythms on “Psycho,” the lead single from its new EP Shower Me. The EP is apparently about living in a culture where concepts of success are narrow defined and conformity to behaviors and mentalities that channel your efforts into attaining that success are expected. There’s no room for making the types of mistakes everyone, as a living human, makes going through life or for ways of being that are well within the range of acceptable, understandable and, yes, normal, outside the range of social expectations and what might be considered “respectable.” In the band’s native Denmark that might look slightly different than it would in the USA or China but the same sorts of forces that cause psychological and thus social friction by forcing people through social pressure or even laws that benefit mostly a moneyed interest and for certain ways of resisting that coercion to be considered anti-social or “psycho.” This song embraces that resistance to arbitrary social mores and norms by not only using the word “psycho” as a kind of refrain against conformity but in crafting a song that bursts outside strictly conventional notions of structure and melody while emerging as accessible and anthemic. Listen to the song and the rest of the Shower Me EP on Spotify and follow Blood Child on Facebook.

facebook.com/bloodchildmusic

Christopher Tignor Articulates the Anxiety and Concern of the Modern Era on “The Resonance Canons”

ChristopherTignor1_sm — Christopher Tignor, photo courtesy the artist

“The Resonance Canons” by Christopher Tignor sounds like something that might have come out on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label in the 90s. It is tightly composed but feels spontaneous. The track is over eleven minutes long but because its sounds and dynamics are organic driven by Tignor’s prepared piano and violin, and his tasteful use of electronics, it feels like you’re on a journey through a sacred space in your mind and plumbing psychological spaces you’ve neglected. The glittering melody halfway through the song is the sound of personal illumination after a passage through personal darkness. Music with similar emotional resonance can be brooding but this song sounds like some of the heaviness that weights on so many people right now with the state of culture, politics and the environment, a persistent concern mixed with hope. As the track progresses into its last chapter, spare textural melodies and low end swells accent a sense of uncertainty about the future even as chimes and the constant, beat loses its tonal quality into pure minimal percussion like a sense of acceptance of the pervasive sense of the pervasive tentative mood about our future potential as a species. Deeply emotional stuff from a guy who has been steeped in the worlds of avant-garde and modern classical music not to mention his job as a software engineer for Google but maybe that’s the background that helps in putting together a complex and moving piece such as this. The song is a part of the forthcoming album A Light Below due out on Western Vinyl on 10/11/19. You can listen to the track on Soundcloud and follow Christopher Tignor at the links below.

open.spotify.com/artist/4fHCEeChre5Ajrkk2ktKdG
twitter.com/tignortronics
facebook.com/ChristopherTignor
instagram.com/tignortronics