Queen City Sounds and Art

Emily Manuel’s Art Folk Title Track to Her Live Forever EP is an Exploration of a Relationship in a Hurry

Emily Manuel’s ambitious art rock and chamber pop song “Live Forever” finds the songwriter orchestrating string sounds, piano and creative vocal rhythms that seem paced more intuitively in tandem with the instrumentation. There is a melancholic cast to the song rimmed with bell tones in the end appropriate to a song that seems to be about a relationship that is being pushed too fast toward an early resolution and an undertone of resignation with the inevitable. There is no drama, no agony here, rather a mature assessment of the ephemeral nature of some relationships and how there can be some joy there even though you can tell it won’t be lasting and wasn’t meant to be in order for it to have been worthwhile. One might consider it sort of a modern art folk song but one with shades of early Tori Amos and late 80s Kate Bush with an undeniable sense of mystery that lends it a compelling allure from beginning to end. Listen to “Live Forever” and the rest of the EP of the same name on Spotify and follow Denver-based artist Emily Manuel on Instagram.

Advika’s Introspective Layers of Melody on “Come Back to Earth” Cushion the Blow of a Prolonged Break-Up With a Spirit of Acceptance

Advika’s use of an exquisite field of electronic tones and steady percussion on her song “Come Back to Earth” imbues the song with a deep sense of longing and introspection. It begins with a slow pulse that builds into a full-fledged constellation of sounds as the vocals tell a kind of tale that uses the metaphor of space exploration as a deft metaphor for distance and alienation in a relationship as each person develops in different directions. Musically the ethereal swells and crystalline string arrangements and layers of synth and vocals create a mood of regretful yet comfortable acceptance and a sense of having moved on to life’s next big adventure. Listen to “Come Back to Earth” on Spotify and follow Advika at the links below.

Sea Lemon’s Starkly Creepy Video for “Cellar” is the Perfect Vehicle for a Gorgeously Expansive Shoegaze Song About a Fascination With the Aesthetics of Modern Horror Cinema

The music video for Sea Lemon’s new single “Cellar” (from the forthcoming EP Stop at Nothing due out August 25, 2023 via Luminelle Recordings) is probably going to be unsettling and creepy for some but anyone that’s been an aficionado of modern and classic horror say something in the better end of found footage and/or A24 for how that form of cinema can be so compelling and emotionally stimulating will appreciate the haunting minimalism of what is presumably the artist standing on a roof clad in a long white dress, arm-length, red gloves, under a light gray overcast sky with very little going on but the tension of expectation is sustained until the end. The lyrics enhance this unusual and spooky imagery with words about asking if someone wants to “see something that feels so wrong” and about the cellar being where she belongs, and being told she’s off. Then about wondering if someone would want to own a home with a public record of a killer’s association with the the place. And then the chorus of “So I say/sometimes I imitate/yesterday/thingsthat make me afraid.” But the music is so ethereal and gorgeously billowy and entrancingly melodic with textural distortion giving it an element of grit it’s almost a contrast with the subject matter overall giving one a sense of the absurd which is the appeal of a lot of horror and how some of the most horrifying films can be seen as super dark comedy given the right frame of mind not to mention the aforementioned ability of horror films to go beyond standard cinematic fare in provoking thought and feeling because it has to operate in transgressive ways with stories that cross outside of easy mainstream marketing with imagery that leaves a strong impression. There is a compelling beauty to the best and most transcendent of horror films and it is that strange alchemy at work in this Sea Lemon song and its attendant visual presentation shot and edited by songwriter Natalie Lew and Abe Poultridge. Lew and Poultridge tap precisely into what certain fans of music and dark cinema will find exactly to their liking. Masterful. Watch said video on YouTube and follow Sea Lemon aka Natalie Lew at the links provided.

Sea Lemon on Instagram

Eydís Evensen’s Warmly Introspective “Dreaming of Light” Evokes the Tranquility of the Mind On the Border of Wakefulness

Eydís Evensen, photo courtesy the artist

Noteworthy modern classical artist Eydís Evensen debuts as a vocalist for “Dreaming of Light” from her second album The Light (released May 26, 2023 on Sony/XXIM) and adds another layer of elegantly rendered, warmly introspective atmosphere to her minimalist piano composition. In her performance you can hear an ear for shifting dynamics and tonal accents to suggest a gentle swell of emotion and a subtle yearning for an illumination of feeling. The lyrics in Icelandic are in perfect sync with Evensen’s evocative and almost percussive piano work and draw one in immediately to the quietly joyous mood of the song. In the music video we see the artist in a spacious room lit with soft spotlights interspersed with with views of a landscape near dawn and/or sunset, highlighting the liminal aesthetic of the song with the mind resting on the border between sleep and wakefulness. Watch the video for “Dreaming of Light” on YouTube and follow Eydís Evensen at the links below.

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Cydnee with a C’s “Don’t We Always” is a Deeply Affectionate Love Song in a Charmingly Glitchy and Hyperpop Mode

Cydnee with a C, photo courtesy the artist

The harp sounds in the introduction to Cydnee with a C’s “Don’t We Always” sets the mood for an upbeat song with a fragile delicacy. The vocals are almost falsetto in character and border on hyperpop except there isn’t the hint of pitch shifting or autotune in the processing. Rather, the song feels very raw and wide open in its vulnerability. It brings together what might in another style of music be called indie folk with glitchy electronic pop and a low key glitchcore beat. And the effect is one of expressing expertly and subtly affection and love for someone with whom you have an uncommonly intimate connection. Many if not most love songs are corny but here Cydnee with a C bypasses the tropes and platitudes and roots her words in everyday experiences we often take for granted but which are the foundations of a lasting and real love that doesn’t need the melodramatic overtures. Listen to “Don’t We Always” on Spotify and follow Cydnee with a C at the links below.

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A Deep Sense of Tranquility and Contentment Pervades elshuffles’ Ambient Techno Track “months of electronic dreams”

An immediate sense of warmth and granular tone sets the mood from the beginning of elshuffles’ “months of electronic dreams.” White noise, tape hiss, however it was accomplished lends an analog quality to a track that goes on to provide impressionistic, minimal techno melodies and percussive arpeggios over an abstractly melodic drone that pulses in the background and settles down into a flowing wash at points. And all along there’s a sense of movement that pulls the song out of the earlier, dreamlike haze into passages of tranquil clarity. The title of the song suggests the vibe in general of compressing those feelings into a song just over four minutes long but in the dream state time is an illusion and one can experience it all in capsule or in the expanded sense of consciousness and retain the little joys and deep sense of peace the song offers beginning to end. Listen to “months of electronic dreams” on Spotify.

With “Latent Misanthropy” The White Mare Gives Voice to the Collective Neglect of Archaic Technology

The White Mare, photo courtesy the artist

“Latent Misanthropy” sounds as thought The White Mare has taken the sample of a radio transmission and channeled in various sound sources by tapping into alternative frequencies to craft a haunted work of ambient noise. Swelling, off harmonic drones, white noise, crackling textural sounds, distant alarms, what could be a modem polling for connection, distorted percussive bursts pulsing relentlessly in the end. Maybe in the crafting of the piece field recordings were brought to bear and processed but the net effect is a composition that is both low key anxiety inducing and thrilling in its sustained building of suspense. If archaic communication devices could come into a collective consciousness and communicate the displeasure at their neglect it might sound like this. Listen to “Latent Misanthropy” on Spotify where you can hear the rest of the album The Splitsville Project VII (released May 8, 2023) and follow Australian noise artist The White Mare on Instagram.

NanaBcool’s Entrancingly Contemplative Interpretation of Lloyd’s “Get It Shawty” Expands Upon the Atmospheric Elegance of the Original

Ghanaian/American singer-songwriter, rapper and dancer NanaBcool released his latest full length album Good Luck, Vol. 1 in February 2023 and displayed a talent for pairing his lushly produced soulful vocal style with music to match. Stylistically the artist doesn’t fit neatly into a narrow category with his songs reminiscent in their richly eclectic range of Prince and P.M. Dawn. So with the follow-up single, an introspective and coolly luminous cover of Lloyd’s 2007 hit “Get It Shawty,” it’s no surprise to hear NanaBcool bringing a deft interpretation that expands on the atmospheric possibilities of the original with an expansive and cavernous production and ethereal guitar, the vocal lines drawn out giving it a contemplative quality almost like this cover is a sequel reflecting on an earlier time in life and both the consequences and romance of that earlier time in life. Listen to “Get It Shawty” on Spotify and follow NanaBcool at the links provided.

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Fricky Tenderly Considers How to Approach a Potential Romance on Reggaeton-Inflected IDM Hip-Hop Single “Häntextra”

Sounds echo and rattle away in dub fashion in Fricky’s “Häntextra” (“Extra Happened” in English) lending the song the feel of both an IDM track and with the vocal style an alternative hip-hop song. But style aside the song has the feel of a heightened dream reality and it feels like it’s in hyperkinetic motion and constantly on the verge of collapse like someone trying to get their footing and the low key excitement of that. There is a tenderness to the song and its Swedish lyrics seem to hint at a narrator who is infatuated with a woman with whom he seems hesitant to broach his interest and talks himself into it throughout the song though he seems reluctant to impose himself on her in case the interest isn’t mutual. The question of the best thing to do remains unresolved by the end of the song and often that’s how these situations turn out in your mind and in life itself. The song is part of Fricky’s new album Horizon Inn which seems to reconcile sounds like the aforementioned with what appears to be the influence of the hyperpop end of Bad Bunny and that reggaeton vibe and production aesthetic. Listen to “Häntextra” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the album and follow Swedish artist Fricky at the links provided.

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Lala Salama Imbue Its Shoegaze Single “Summer Love” With a Rush of Excitement and Emotional Intoxication Befitting the Title

“Summer Love” from Helsinki-based band Lala Salama begins in a hazy reverie and then kicks into urgent, warping surges of guitar and ethereal vocals in a kind of interplay of the tranquil and the passionate. At times it’s reminiscent of The Flaming Lips’ “Race For The Prize” in its pacing and tonal palette but in terms of its dynamic twists and turns more akin to the likes of the avant-pop aspects of Asobi Seksu circa its 2006 album Citrus and more contemporaneously Blushing’s exquisite melodic whorls and uplifting rhythms. Listen to “Summer Love” on YouTube and connect with Lala Salama at the links below. Look out for Lala Salama’s album All That Plazz forthcoming in 2023.

Lala Salama on Facebook

Lala Salama on Instagram