It Records – Queen City Sounds and Art

“Time To the Brim” by Seja is teeming with layers of tone from guitar, to pulsing and shimmering synth with a steady, almost motorik beat and in moments is reminiscent of a 90s trip-hop band but more psychedelic. It progresses in steps with lyrics like personal mantra coaxing oneself out of static headspace and diving into how the music breaks out of the repetitive rhythm in the last half of the song with swirling guitar sound that goes off standard rhythmic meter while still anchored to the beat until the end when the haze of synth slow arcs to silence. Emotionally it’s like Seja trusts in the float of the slow momentum of the song to nudge herself to a place she wants to be and leans into the melody with her vocals. Fans of Curve and the more electronic end of Blonde Redhead may enjoy the physicality and entrancingly disorienting melodies running through this sing. Listen to “Time To the Brim” on Spotify and follow Seja at the links below. The new album Here Is One I Know You Know was released on August 4, 2023 via It Records.

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The shimmery, shining, repetitive synth line that runs through much of 100%’s “Prisoner” is like an analogous representation of a transmission through a landline. The other synth melodies sound like something that could have come about in 1985, 1995, 2005 or 2025. Which is fitting given the themes of the song and Lena Molnar’s vocals striking an inquisitive and low-key confrontational tone questioning the nature of power relations, justice, public safety and the habits of a society choosing to self-medicate rather than deal with serious social issues and how we deal with them or don’t in an adequate way. The song is a lo-fi, mostly electronic post-punk track but that fits these eternal themes that never seem to get resolved and though technology develops society finds a way to sweep problems that science and a current dominant form of economics, almost always in lock step with one another, doesn’t seem to be able to address to anyone’s satisfaction. Is this a song inquiring about the life of a prisoner? Who is the prisoner? Are we all of habits and ways of being and living? Does this song expand upon the meaning of “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”? This song invites the listener to contemplate these questions on a fundamental level. Fans of early Ladytron will appreciate how the song seems both retro and out of normal time. Listen to “Prisoner” on Spotify, give the rest of the album Clear Visions out on It Records now, and follow the Australian band 100% at the links below.