Queen City Sounds and Art

Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E23: Plague Garden

Plague Garden, photo courtesy the artists

Plague Garden is a post-punk band from Denver, Colorado that began a concept in 2017 when singer-guitarist Fernando Altonaga wanted a vehicle for his more post-punk songwriting that didn’t fit with his project at the time eHpH, an industrial/EBM project. Keyboard/synth player Angelo Atencio was in the latter at time time as well and the two projects operated in tandem for several years. In 2022 the group brought on bassist Stephen Hannum and in 2023 current guitarist Dæmian Alexander. From its earliest days the band’s songwriting had imaginative soundscapes and robust guitar tones as well as a poetic sensibility that has translated into poignant lyrics that express vivid portraits of personal struggle and catharsis. With three albums to its name so far, Plague Garden is now entering a phase of exploring themes and concepts in the music and expanding its sound palette as well as the inclusion of Spanish language lyrics. Live the band’s music is a fusion of guitar-driven post-punk and darkwave with experimental electronic and production elements with a theatrical aesthetic and passionate performances.

Plague Garden will be a part of Colorado Goth Fest on Saturday, June 22, 2024 which will feature local and national acts including Calabrese and Scary Black, WitchHands, Opaque Shades, Funeral Process, Thee Coroners, Redwing Blackbird and Devoratus showcasing the more death rock and post-punk side of the Goth scene with an event that runs from 4pm until 12:30am at HQ. Listen to our interview with Plague Garden on Bandcamp and follow the band at the links below.

Plague Garden on Bandcamp

Plague Garden on Facebook

Carlos Antonio’s Cinematic and Soulful Downtempo Art Pop Single “Rhodes” is a Song About the Complexities of Being Open About Intimacy

Carlos Antonio, photo courtesy the artist

Carlos Antonio’s breathy vocals seem to come from shadow places in in a late night lounge on “Rhodes.” The downtempo beat, moody strings, horns and harmonic drones flow like a slow moving fog with rhythm and tone integrating perfectly to lend the song a cinematic, orchestral aspect like an especially lush trip-hop song. Although the song has a soulful and vulnerable quality its lyrics outline the complicated social aspects of LGBT intimacy even in the twenty-first century. Antonio’s vocals sound like someone who has long been in the practice of shielding their true self but is now sharing a raw yet sophisticated glimpse into the mixture of passion, fear and desperation that comes from being uncertain how one’s authentic self will be received. Listen to “Rhodes” on Spotify and follow Carlos Antonio on Instagram.

snō Embraces Uncertainty as a Feature of Human Existence on Ambient Pop Single “unsure”

“unsure” by snō is a song seemingly about a tentative relationship with the world around oneself with all its demands and contradictory expectations making it sometimes challenging to have a solid and assured sense of self. The simple guitar figure that runs through the song beginning with the echo of an input jack being plugged in. Though abstract and repetitive the guitar line gives the song a tactile quality while Jacquelin Turner’s vocals flow and drift with an introspective and expressive vulnerability. The song does feel like a journey from uncertainty to acceptance but not one driven by a need to find absolute solutions, rather leaning into the process and into feeling and being because in life your experiences are part of a continuity of existence that don’t always lend themselves well to an outlook oriented toward linear problem solving. The song is part of the EP processing (released April 24, 2024) which has similar themes throughout of coming to terms with not always having the answers or not having any that are enduring all assembled with beautiful ambient soundscapes and gentle textures. Listen to “unsure” and the rest of processing on Spotify and follow snō at the links below.

snō on Apple Music

Kabusa Oriental Choir Brings Commanding Choral Arrangements to its Interpretation of South African Pop Banger “Tshwala Bam”

Kabusa Oriental Choir hails from the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria known for creative, choir adaptations of popular songs. “Tshawala Bam” was and is a 2024 TikTok viral sensation by South African duo TitoM & Yuppe. Kabusa Oriental Choir turn the relatively pulsating dance pop song very much of its time and place into something that feels slightly more traditional without sacrificing the vitality of the original and its fantastic low end. This version of the song expands upon the vocal possibilities inherent in the song and gives it an even more celebratory spin with multiple voices dropping in to switch up the flavor and tenor throughout further proving the song’s adaptability to multiple contexts and interpretations as evidenced by the more conventional production style remixes of the song that have already come about.

Kabusa Oriental Choir on Facebook

Kabusa Oriental Choir on TikTok

Kabusa Oriental Choir on Instagram

Angelikah Fahray and SeepeopleS Neo Soul Trip Hop Single “If I Would Die” is a Lush and Affectionate Tribute to Love and Devotion

Angelikah Fahray, photo by Caitlin Carolan

Angelikah Fahray’s soulfully expressive vocals in “If I Would Die” are served well by the lush and exquisitely detailed production including contributions from Will Bradford (SeepeopleS, theWorst etc.). It’s a deeply affectionate tribute to love and devotion in a neo soul and trip hop vein and one that feels like a guided journey along Fahray’s poetic, emotional paces and her crafting of a mood you’d want to live in as long as you can surrounded by warmly resonant melodies and soft percussive textures. Fans of Sudan Archives and Erykah Badu will appreciate Fahray’s inspired songcraft and performance here. Watch the entrancing video for “If I Would Die” on YouTube and follow Angelikah Fahray at the links below.

Angelikah Fahray on TikTok

Angelikah Fahray on Instagram

Annabelle Paige’s Exultant Pop Single is a Celebration of Breaking Free of Situations of Low Self-Expectations

Annabelle Paige, photo courtesy the artist

Annabelle Paige structures her song “Glimpse” as a journey from delicate spareness and vulnerability with acoustic guitar and vocals to a sonically dense and rich passages of exulting in personal liberation. And as the song goes back to the more acoustic side of things we hear more confidence and a sense of self in the lyrics before launching again into the emotional epic ending of the song with what feels like granular and distorted tones like a sense of burning off the limitations of a perspective that holds one back from one’s potential and often that can mean personal connections with people who don’t want you to grow because it means they might be forced to see how they’re not trying to develop beyond their current, stifling status quo. But you can’t live your life trapped by the low grade expectations of others and Paige’s song is about breaking free of situations like that. Listen to “Glimpse” on Spotify and follow the songwriter at the links provided.

Annabelle Paige on Apple Music

Annabelle Paige on TikTok

Annabelle Paige on Instagram

The Hypnogogic Drones of Hidden Blindness’ “Breathing Out” is a Welcome Break From Mundane Reality

Harmonic drones and hazy textures usher in the soundscape of “Breathing Out” by Hidden Blindness. When the slow moving melodies drift in as layers and then out the song conveys a sense of stillness like sunrise over a frozen pond in mid-winter. Gently rising flares of tone intermingle with icy synth swells like voices. A sustained brightness of tone that flows throughout the song lends it a quality like coming out of a long period of restful slumber with the mind free of the daily concerns that can anchor it to immediate wakefulness in which one is expected to perform some mundane workday duty. It’s a refreshing bit of music that can take you out of the everyday moment for a few minutes. If this is music as escapism your brain is probably better for it. Listen to “Breathing Out” at the links below and follow Hidden Blindness on Instagram.

Soft Cotton Candy’s Gauzy Dream Pop Single “It Could Happen To You” Explores the Light and Dark Sides of the Creative Imagination

Soft Cotton Candy, photo courtesy the artists

Soft Cotton Candy released its first album since its 2010 self-titled offering with 10 Years of Travel (out April 5, 2024). The single that leads off the album “It Could Happen To You” embodies the elegance of songcraft and soundscaping on the rest of the songs ahead. Acoustic and electric guitars set a languid pace, gentle textures and transporting moods that pair well with the breathy vocals that seem to tell a narrative about getting lost in fantasy and imagination in aspects both beneficial and as a path to delusional behavior. That emotional complexity though is cast in gorgeous, gentle and warm tones that don’t soften the impact of the song’s critical words when they appear, rather it highlights the sentiments. Musically the hazy melodies and downtempo pace is reminiscent of a Julee Cruise song or an unlikely collaboration between Yo La Tengo and Low awash in ethereal melodies. Listen to “It Could Happen To You” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of 10 Years of Travel.

Jodie Nicholson’s “You Wanted This” is a Lush and Moody Song About the Tensions and Compromises of Living Out Your Dreams

Jodie Nicholson reflects on her life as a musician in “You Wanted This” and the complex dynamic between self and one’s aspirations and the realities of navigating the world of being a songwriter in the music industry of today. She begins by singing, “I wanted this, I wanted this” and then shifting into “You wanted this, you wanted this” in a simple yet deft turn of internal dialogue all while surrounded by lingering synth tones both in higher and lower registers like a hazy drone. A spare piano part accents the mood and when the rhythm kicks in so does a full range of moody atmospheric swells that conveys a sense of the songwriter trailing off the thoughts and walking into the evening with a light sprinkling of rain fall all around. The production on the song and its tonal shifts is masterfully subtle yet impactful centering on Nicholson’s expressive and melancholic vocals and gift for augmenting the melodic range of the arrangements. Altogether it allows for Nicholson to speak eloquently to the tensions and sometimes uneasy acceptance of the pluses and negatives as they are in order to do the most important things in your life. Listen to “You Wanted This” on Spotify and follow Jodie Nicholson at the links below. Nicholson’s new album Safe Hands released May 10, 2024.

jodienicholsonmusic.com

Jodie Nicholson on Twitter

Jodie Nicholson on Facebook

Jodie Nicholson on Instagram

Jodie Nicholson on YouTube

Elektrokohle Darkwave Garage Rock Single “I Wanna Cry” is a Song About Yearning to Break Out of Emotional Paralysis

Elektrokohle, photo courtesy the artists

Elektrokohle waste no time getting into the thick of “I Wanna Cry” and its urgent mix of dark post-punk noisy punk driven by a motorik beat. In the black and white music video and it’s flashing lights, stark shadows, haunted underground settings and those more like the interior of a repurposed, abandoned school the band looks like a darkwave version of some kind of psychedelic garage rock band from Memphis or The Cramps. And this aesthetic reinforces the desperate themes of the song of feeling stuck and despairing at not being able to satisfy a loved one and give them what they want and vice versa and not knowing how to break out of that terrible emotional deadlock. Elektrokohle perfectly captures that breaking point of not knowing what to do next but knowing that maybe a good cry would purge that blockage of feeling and that sense of powerlessness. Watch the video for “I Wanna Cry” on YouTube and follow Berlin-based post-punk band Elektrokohle at the links below. “I Wanna Cry” is out now on a seven inch b/w “Abstand” available through the group’s Bandcamp page.