The title track to Stinkus’ debut album 23 (released April 5, 2024) has an air of nostalgia for simpler times and simpler joys as captured in the music video. We see some men playing a small scale version of soccer without much regard for who or if anyone is winning but making gestures toward caring. The song has spare guitar melodies and some background synth warble and shimmer. The vocal harmonies are slightly off center yet tuneful like something from an earlier era of indiepop when bands were taking a departure from where the mainstream industry was headed and recording on 4-track. But the production isn’t lacking though the aesthetic is lo-fi. Rather, it preserves a sound that is tender and homespun and thus immediately relatable. It closes playfully with voices sped up to cartoonish levels in banter imbued with camaraderie. The song is representative of Stinkus’ other music from the album in bringing together hazy atmospheres and charmingly slackery energy and sensibilities in the songwriting that embraces the mindset that we’ve been sold a bill of goods in modern society that encourages us to ignore our joy and humanity in favor of serving a system that is designed to enrich the one percent of one percent rather than the nurture all of us. Stinkus has clearly figured out a way to find a way to lean into a way to live in those moments where we can all indulge our better impulses on the regular throughout 23. Fans of Modest Mouse and Death Cab For Cutie will get a lot of mileage out of what Stinkus has to offer. Watch the video for “23” on YouTube and follow Stinkus at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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