HolyKimJo’s Immersive, Slowcore Sound Collage of “Photosynthesis In Your Love” is an Homage to the Invisible Forces of Our Lives That Sustain It

HolyKimJo, photo courtesy the artist

HolyKimJo recorded the music for “Photosynthesis In Your Love” on an old tape recorder to give it that unique touch of the analog experience which is closes to life and emotions as we experience them directly. The format preserves and communicates a constant flow of atmospheric sounds around the vocal melody like a keen awareness of environment and the rhythms of the world around you would convey to you if you stop to pay attention. The song itself is about the invisible forces we take for granted that sustain life and one’s well being that one can take for granted until the moment we focus on our own awareness whether that’s photosynthesis or the love of and for another and so many things that make our lives feel significant while we live it. The song is on a slowcore vein with minimal guitar work and breathy vocals akin to The Microphones circa The Glow, Pt. 2 or even an old Flying Saucer Attack song. But it isn’t derivative, it feels like its own universe of sounds, a collage of field recordings, guitar, processed vocals and drones that feel like a unified sensory experience which the beautifully enigmatic music video embodies perfectly with its sense of wonder at the great expanse of existence. Watch the video for “Photosynthesis In Your Love” on YouTube and follow Seoul, South Korea’s HolyKimJo at the links below. The album Her Name, Like a Fading Polaroid released November 29, 2023 and is now available on streaming and as a digital download on Bandcamp.

HolyKimJo on Instagram

War Strings Processes a Lingering Heartache on the Ethereally Gorgeous Shoegaze Song “Surreal”

War Strings, photo courtesy the artist

From the beginning of War Strings’ “Surreal” its blend of textural sounds and deep atmosphere bears immediate resonance with Drowse mid-90s Flying Saucer Attack. It establishes a delicate and billowy sound where the steady guitar riff anchors the ethereal vocals before they have a chance to dissolve into the background drone flowing off the core stream of sounds. The lyrics are like images from a dream spent contemplating an old hurt and trying to sublimate off that pain even if that may not happen on the first attempt. The final stanza of lyrics “In everything I see/It’s surreal, surreal/It’s all blown out/All blown out/All blown out” is like a mantra to the way memory can distort our current emotional state when we lean into it but in addressing the heartaches that stick with you it’s usually necessary to just feel it and not try to escape even when it can leave you disoriented and confused for longer than might be comfortable. And while the song has that ghostly, haunted quality it isn’t one that is built on dissociation or avoidance. Listen to “Surreal” on YouTube and follow War Strings at the links provided.

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War Strings on Instagram