indie folk – Queen City Sounds and Art

Skinny Dippers’ Cosmic Folk Song “When You Were It” Evokes a Warmly Reflective Immediacy

Skinny Dippers, photo courtesy the artists

Skinny Dippers stride fully into a paradoxical mood of deep reflection and emotional immediacy on hazy folk single “When You Were It.” The accented beat anchors the motes of melodic tone that illuminate and haunt the song throughout as well as the spare rhythm guitar, whistles and the tenderly wistful vocals as we’re invited into vivid memories but more so the lingering feelings of peak moments of a relationship. The title refers to the chorus “I’ll forget what you said/I’ll forget what you did/But I’ll never forget how it felt/When you were it” and how that succinctly captures one’s ability to not focus on the negatives but the essential resonance of connection. Everyone has down times in any relationship and maybe the developments and events that cause them to come apart but the feelings that drew you together and the strength of those emotions can stay with you long after without make it so that you’re stuck in the past. The song captures those moments with a precision that mere words are inadequate to on their own. The textural synth passages and the gentle flow of the song is reminiscent of Wilco’s most poetic songs that draw you back in immediately. Listen to “When You Were It” on Spotify and follow Skinny Dippers at the links below. The When You Were It EP released May 15, 2026.

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Brooklyn Doran’s Melancholic and Expansive “Heavy Hurt” is a Song About Mourning Irreconcilable Differences

Brooklyn Doran, photo courtesy the artist

Brooklyn Doran sure did pick a perfect title for “Heavy Hurt.” The song is written about being on a long tour where the parallel of the tour van breaking down and the breakdown of a relation coincided in a way that maybe makes everything feel like it could be closing in. The expansive, distorted melodic sparkle of the song with Doran’s vulnerable vocal delivery and steady, strong rhythms open up feelings that could sink your spirit if they were locked up inside your heart being denied their truth airing out. And throughout the song we get hints of how it seems obvious that the dissolution of the relationship was there all along with two people wanting different things out of their lives in a way that could never be mutually compatible and the song doesn’t try to cast anyone as a villain. It just honors the hurt on both sides and the honest acceptance of that hurt before healing and moving forward can begin. Listen to “Heavy Hurt” on Spotify and follow Brooklyn Doran at the links below.

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“Fine” is Cosmic Madness’ Psychedelic Folk Song About Letting Go of Outmoded Habits and Leaning Well Into Where You Want to Be

Cosmic Madness, photo courtesy the artist

The lyrics to “Fine” by Cosmic Madness seems to unspool a narrative of reflection as a means of looking forward, of establishing a personal framing as the foundation of what comes next in one’s life. The guitar and vocal melody interweave and shift in tone from introspective to assertive as the song progresses in a way that feels like something growing and branching out and embracing what nurtures the expansion. The minimalism in the earlier parts of the song fill in with a backdrop of luminous harmonics and guitar allowed to drift in phasing passages that curl around the percussion and rhythm guitar to convey a sense of well being that uplifts the melancholic mood of the song borne of learning to let go of the habits of mind and living that no longer serve the life you want and are already leaning into. Listen to “Fine” on YouTube and follow Cosmic Madness at the links provided.

Cosmic Madness on Apple Music

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Bad Flamingo Celebrates Arbitrary Social Taboos on Experimental Indie Folk Single “Shame”

Bad Flamingo, photo courtesy the artists

Bad Flamingo has truly been evolving in new directions as a band and the single “Shame” is a marked stylistic departure from its most recent compositions. A sustained focus on textural rhythm with the vocals carrying the melody runs throughout the song with some lingering guitar haunting the edges. The lyrics are not so much about a couple on the run from mainstream society. Rather, it’s a song about not feeling bad about being one’s authentic self even if it isn’t in alignment with traditional values and conventional mores and exulting in the kind of shame projected on anyone daring to transgress in the most basic of ways. The song seems to be about a love that doesn’t have the sanction of society but it’s a significant permutation beyond what the duo has been thus far in the songwriting. It’s like the adventure part of the long arc of the band’s mythology is in the past or on pause with some moments to reflect on what exactly is going on and making sense and reaffirming one’s dignity on a path to being where in fact shame is an unnecessary aspect of one’s life cast on you by judgmental folk who can’t seem to mind their own business. Watch the video for “Shame” on YouTube and follow Bad Flamingo at the links below.