“Violet” by Alas de Liona is one of the most melodious songs about anxiety-induced insomnia of recent years. The layers of gossamer vocals over and around the lead vocals are dream-like and transporting and Alas de Liona does what looks in her own video like a nod to Kate Bush’s moves in the video for “Army Dreamers” but musically the song has a soothing and otherworldly quality that resonates strongly with the “Love Theme” from the soundtrack to The Breakfast Club. Though de Liona’s dream pop confection of a song is about feeling overcome with nerves and worry its energy is that of finally finding that tranquil place in the mind where sleep and rest are possible and the end of the song feels like relief is already gently here. Watch the video for “Violet” on YouTube and follow Alas de Liona at the links below. Her new album Gravity of Gold is out 13 September on her own Deli Owner Records via Absolute Label Services.
War Violet’s use of strings and piano arrangements in “Different Formations” lend a classical sensibility to a song about the ways humans live on earth like we’re eager to escape it. Like it’s something to escape and that as a result its in some ways disposable. But Jummy Aremu’s vocals seem to mourn this unfortunate state of affairs as a tragic reality that never needed to come to pass. In the music video we see Aremu sharing a cab with a cast of characters at night like they’re celebrating like it’s their last day on earth. It really makes the song hit a little harder in spite the elegance of its composition and the orchestral beauty of its detailed melodies. With poetic pronouncements, Aremu points out the lost potential and the inevitable tragedy of loss of a world that seems inevitable simply because humans couldn’t believe in their own value and thus the world around them because of a lifetime of indoctrination to belief systems that atomizes everyone and renders all things with a utilitarian value rather than one more inherent and tied to a place in a an economic, social and/or religious hierarchy. In Aremu’s voice we hear a love of the world and a spirit deep melancholia at how it feels like our species has simply given up on itself and everything else in the world has to pay that price as well. A song can’t save the world but “Different Formations” offers a unique take on what we’ve lost and what we can lose and challenges the listener to think in lateral and powerful ways that can transform our approach to how we conduct ourselves on the planet. Fans of Kate Bush and Angel Olsen will appreciate Aremu’s union of classic and classical sensibilities with an employment of those sounds and structures in ways that subvert the usual methods and expressions. Watch the video for “Different Formations” on YouTube out now on Kill Rock Stars and listen to more War Violet on Spotify.
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.
Maja Lena’s experimental pop song “Portal” with its pulse of minimal percussion as rhythm track and melodic drone leading into the songwriter’s almost sing-song-y vocals has an immediate accessibility in spite of its unconventional, more intuitive structure and pacing. Its poetic lines do not follow any standard form of verse and its more avant-garde leanings fit well the beautifully symbolic language and imagery. The music video and its enigmatic footage of dark roads at night, brightly lit vegetation against a dark backdrop and mysterious figures whose faces are hidden by shadow somehow makes the music make more sense in a concrete way in the manner with which Kate Bush’s more structuralist film format videos and the post-modern aesthetic of repeated images and themes reinforcing and evolving meaning with every iteration did for some of her own music. The playful woodwind sounds in this song and Lena’s wide ranging vocals in counterpoint with each other might be compared favorable as well with Cate Le Bon’s wonderfully alien pop songcraft. You hear it and you know that you’re in for a musical ride into realms that will expand one’s emotional knowledge and gain a language for articulating aspects of existence that elude standard use of language. Lena speaks to the way our imagination though a wonderful tool and at the core of our existence and cognitive orientation can run away with us and how we can be compelled by unconscious influences to act in unpredictable ways that are perhaps best understood through imaginative constructs like mythology. When Lena sings about “answering to Pluto,” “answering through fire” and “answering through desire” maybe it’s intended in a way to be literal but Pluto can symbolize the shadow side of ourselves and fire and desire the passions and inspirations that can drive us. But however one interprets Maja Lena’s richly diverse set of symbols as employed in the song, the mysterious allure of “Portal” suggests a transformation in stepping through whether as a life changing decision, choosing to take a path of possible peril but also reward or into the world of another with its personally crafted vision guiding the experience. Watch the video for “Portal” on YouTube, follow Maja Lena at the links below and perhaps give a listen to the rest of the new album Pluto which released on December 2, 2022.
Shilpa Ananth examines the nature of power and the making of it and seeking it out on “The Search (featuring Riatsu).” A percussive synth melody frames the song as she sings lines exploring the pursuit of power on a personal basis beyond immediate experiences and what she might do with that power and if she’s worthy of the journey in taking on power and its responsibilities. She mentions the concept of reincarnation and having lived many lives though one might take that in the symbolic sense as all of us live multiple lives in one lifetime if we have lived a path of growth and often when we don’t consciously do so because the nature of living is working through change. And in that idea is the implication of what we learn and the thoughts that come out of what we think we know and how our inherent shortcomings as mortal beings should give us pause in seeking power without understanding it and how it can be used and abused and how even possessing various kinds can change a person whose character is not suitable to a proper use of power and prestige. The video treatment directed by Suruchi Sharma is reminiscent of early Kate Bush music videos in the use of symbols and repetition including a large wire frame of a person reminiscent of The Wicker Man and its own symbolic resonances for the use and abuse of power and the seeking thereof. And that visual sense parallels the art pop sensibilities of the song and how its emotional colorings contain nuances of meaning reflected in its especially through-provoking lyrics. Watch the video for “The Search” on YouTube and connect with Shilpa Ananth at the links below.
“The Poison Tree” from Katharina Nutthall’s 2022 album The Garden engages in the mythological themes of the album with the poetic imagery found in the lyrics which seem to explore themes of losing one’s path and sense of self and rediscovering all of it on a new foundation. “The Poison Tree” finds Nutthall sounding a little ragged with the urgency of emotion as carried along by what feels like an outwardly spiraling flow of emotion. It begins and ends with the sound of a piano seeming to come apart but in the middle of the song the piano melody anchors the song even as violin accents the dramatic tension and synths, ghostly backing vocals, droning strings, rattling percussion and luminescent keyboards in its ever descending tones create a sense of dramatic confusion. “In the morning rain I found myself lost in the garden” is the first line of the song and it sets the stage for images of natural forces taking on the role of energies and situations beyond one’s control that carry you beyond the contexts you knew. But during the course of the song the narrator of this folkloric story finds herself “out of place and time” but finds solace in the garden shelter even though there’s a “poison tree where the birds flew low and the grass was green.” The metaphor of water as one’s identity that can be drunk while an excess of water drowns a “precious flower.” The aspects of ourselves that make us experience the vitality of life can also become the things that undermine our lives in excess. But the symbolism of the song is never on the nose, its more a dream logic that informs the imagery and emotional resonance and the music itself is reminiscent of the kind of energy one hears in late 80s Kate Bush where a grounded yet dreamlike quality gives some of her most pop songwriting a compelling sense of mystery. Listen to “The Poison Tree” on Spotify and connect with Katharina Nutthall at the links provided.
The spare piano figure that leads us into KOKA’s new single “Falling Star” is a taste of a song that sounds like a music theater piece in miniature. But a theatrical production about a futuristic pop star who was shown the ropes of the music industry but her imagination and personal ambition took her to where she wanted to be rather than where other people might have set their sights for her potential. The use of space in the song and the way KOKA has structured how it unfolds and reveals its various flavors and moods is orchestral in scope and thus reminiscent of The Sensual World-period Kate Bush especially in the expressive ways KOKA’s vocals execute to great dramatic effect. It also brings to mind the later era Tori Amos whose own knack for deeply personal yet theatrical songwriting hits you like a glimpse into a more mythical personal experience that can’t help but feel like a brush with the possibilities of life we can often ignore in our own psyche. Listen to “Falling Star” on Spotify and follow KOKA at the links provided.
“Unseeable” by Possimiste strikes one as a beautiful synthesis of The Space Lady and Kate Bush. It’s pop music but one from some alien civilization that isn’t inundated with bad examples of how it should sound. The glockenspiel, twinkling synth swirls and Possimiste’s unique vocals straight out of the realm of Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter. In its lyrics it’s like an ode to a twin from another quantum reality connected by a kind of magic mirror or psychological technology that bridges the cosmic chasm. Somehow Possimiste combines tones wistful and bittersweet in equal measure making for an enchanting listen that promises more strangeness ahead for this Estonian songwriter. Listen on Soundcloud and follow Possimiste at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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