Portishead – Queen City Sounds and Art

MIYNT’s Psychedelic Dream Pop Song “Lonely Beach” Makes a Good Case for Choosing Loneliness Over a Bad Relationship

“Lonely Beach” finds MIYNT employing a warping and distorted psychedelic melody across guitar, rhythms and pairs it with vocals sounding like something recorded to VHS and then recaptured and boosted. The effect is a sound that is both intimate and raw yet dreamlike. The lead vocals and where it sits with the instrumentation and the ghostly backing vocals is reminiscent of the more jagged aesthetic of Portishead’s “Half Day Closing” in which lo-fi and the sound of a song breaking down slightly and coming back together is made into a beautifully disorienting aspect of the song. But here things don’t go quite off the rails and MIYNT reigns in the chaos and harnesses that kind of energy to create an unconventional pop song about waiting in life for the right person or situation to come along to engage and inspire your heart and then ends with the line “waiting for somebody that you’ll never be” as though an explanation for why things won’t or didn’t work out but doing so in one of the more kind of blunt ways possible. It’s also a song that seems to express the feeling that being lonely can be preferable to settling for someone that doesn’t suit you because that’s essentially choosing to stay lonely while making room for drama and static for the illusion of companionship. Listen to “Lonely Beach” on Spotify and follow MIYNT on Instagram.

Arkle Eerie Video For “Slowly Alive” Drifts us Uneasily Out of the Dreamstate

Arkle’s video for “Slowly Alive” is like a trailer for an A24 movie about existential, cosmic horror. The plot of the video seems to be about a woman who is taking her time wake up for the day and dreams of mythical landscapes depicted by colorful animation like something from a childhood story book crafted from illustrations and collage. The warping synth lines refracting and moving both forward and processed through light reverse delay at points sets a strong mood of otherworldly reverie. The insistent keyboard line serves as a tonal anchor point through the hazy soundscape as the visuals transition to abstract imagery of black and white kaleidoscopic visuals. The ghostly female vocals are like a tantalizing yet assuring beacon in the fog of this journey to wakeful consciousness guiding us to the track’s conclusion. Musically it’s reminiscent of a spooky and beatless Boards of Canada with Beth Gibbons-esque singing at her most icily ethereal. Watch the video for “Slowly Alive” on YouTube and connect with Arkle at the links below.

arklebeats.com

Lawrie Crawford/Arkle on Twitter

Arkle on Instagram

Wrené Reaches Out For Connection From a Place of Disconnection From Self on the Orchestral Majesty of “White Walls”

Normally when an artist sounds like they’re putting distance between themselves and those that might encounter their work it can be off-putting. But with “White Walls” Wrené’s production invites a spirit of solidarity with feelings of isolation and the coping mechanism of emotional dissociation and a yearning to restore oneself to a more functional place in the heart and spirit. Her wide-ranging vocals brim with a strength of feeling even when it expresses a feeling of emptiness yet from a place of intuitively knowing that can’t and won’t last forever. The song starts of sounding a bit like Portishead broadcasting from space and later the orchestral swell of sounds and emotions is reminiscent of Chelsea Wolfe’s more folk and ambient work or that of Zola Jesus. Once the dramatic tension of the song peaks Wrené ends on a deeply melancholic and lingering note that doesn’t suggest that it’s easy to come back from a place where you feel like you’ve cut yourself off from the passionate drives of the heart you once knew. Surely a song that embodies a way of feeling and being many of us have experienced over the last few years. Listen to “White Walls” on YouTube and connect with Wrené on Spotify.

AFAR Lures You Into a Brooding, Downtempo Journey Into Slow Burn Emotional Catharsis on “Lulled and Fake”

There is a sultry darkness to AFAR’s single “Lulled and Fake.” The distorted, electronic bass pulses along with a brooding menace while electric bass traces the outlines of a melody that runs through the song as a compliment to the dynamic and rich vocals like one of the more dub-inspired tracks by 90s downtempo groups that crafted songs using something of a production songwriting palette and a seamless mix of electronic and electric instruments like Massive Attack and Portishead. Except that on “Lulled and Fake,” AFAR is especially reminiscent of Curve in the vocals and the way Curve could sustain a slow burn intensity without having to resort to a blowout denouement to leave a lasting impression Listen to “Lulled and Fake” on Soundcloud where you can also follow the band’s further exploits.