Loreena McKennitt – Queen City Sounds and Art

Hissuae breathes a sense of the intimate and cinematic into “Guilty Pleasure” with her ethereal and vulnerable vocals. The song’s arrangements are orchestral and minimal in their intertwining of sweeping piano and percussion so that the song feels like an immersive, living entity in the listening. In the background the barest touch of synth lends an otherworldly quality that puts the more human elements in the foreground and catches one’s full attention. The singer-songwriter’s singing style is reminiscent of the ways Kate Bush and Loreena McKennitt could intermingle the personal with the mythical in fine nuances of vocal expression. For a song that seems to be about transcending mundane, everyday existence that is the perfect tonal mode for the song to take. Listen to “Guilty Pleasure” on Spotify and connect with Hissuae on Bandcamp.

&Tilly’s video for “In Circles” was shot entirely on iPhone but its color palette and textural detail looks like something that could be part of an A24 film set in parallel universe. We see a figure seeming to be floating on and in azure waters with visuals of luminous, aquatic invertebrates floating gracefully about and a shoreline of darkened trees. The music itself is elegant layers of processed piano, sublimely subtle guitar and ethereal percussive sounds and hushly melodious vocals. Perhaps even plucked violin to give it all an even more classical sensibility that lends the song a timeless aspect like something that could have come from a more pop 90s New Age alternative music realm for fans of Enya and Loreena McKennitt or newer artists like Cate Le Bon or Julia Holter. But &Tilly’s sound is also in the realm of dream pop but with more than usual mastery of sonic details masterfully orchestrated. Watch the video for “In Circles” on YouTube and follow &Tilly at the links provided.