Madonna – Queen City Sounds and Art

Miami-based post-punk dance band Donzii released its debut full-length album Fishbowl on December 1, 2022 and its lead single “Grave” is a solid dose of what you’re in store for in giving the record a full listen. The music video for the song shows the band performing in what looks like an abandoned warehouse space with dancers who look like they came out of a future society after the American version of Mad Max has risen from the ashes of the apocalypse accompanying the band in its choreographed movements set to the moody, R&B infused darkwave. The percussion sounds like something borrowed from 80s dance pop but paired with the brooding mood of the song that prescribes finding and making one’s own fun in a world where everything seems so precarious and menacing. At points the band strikes a tone reminiscent of what might have happened if Giorgio Moroder, New Order, Madonna and Nina Hagen had collaborated on a song created for performing in East Germany and having to keep a song about subversive, even revolutionary and forbidden simple hedonism a secret from officialdom. Its this eclectic but strong sound that Donzii has been crafting across a handful of previous releases that has set it apart from the post-punk and darkwave bands with which its often been associated that has found a peak moment on Fishbowl. Fans of Boy Harsher and Actors will find what Donzii’s been doing much to their liking. Watch the video for “Grave” on YouTube and follow Donzii at the links below.

Donzii on Facebook

Donzii on Instagram

“Mother Mother” was inspired by songwriter Ellie Madeland’s discovery of a collection of letters between her as a child and her mother written after her parents announced they were getting divorced. The resonating synth line that opens the track before Madeland asks “Mother, mother, where do I go?” establishes a mood of deep reflection. Gentle William’s production is reminiscent ever so slightly of Madonna’s 1986 song “Live to Tell” and its tone of resigned sorrow and loss. Madeland’s vulnerable and raw yet reflective vocal delivery helps the poetry of of lines like “black spots, regrets, I needed a friend in the end” hit harder as Madeland’s words create a powerful emotional memory of a childhood disrupted by the confusion of witnessing her parents split with seemingly not the level of emotional support she needed from someone she felt she could trust. The soundscape is gorgeous and that still doesn’t really blunt the pain Madeland evokes so well while tapping into primal memories that can linger for a lifetime but in exploring them and really feeling them and processing them creatively or hearing that ache in a song has a chance of uncoiling that knot in the psyche. Listen to “Mother Mother” on Soundcloud and follow Ellie Madeland at the links below.