Siouxsie and the Banshees – Queen City Sounds and Art

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E12: Knox Chandler

Knox Chandler, photo courtesy the artist

Knox Chandler made a name for himself as a musician with bands and artists like The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Cyndi Lauper. He also performed with, recorded, arranged and produced for REM, Depeche Mode, Grace Jones, Marianne Faithful, Natalie Merchant, Tricky, The Golden Palominos and others. He spent ten years living in Berlin, Germany where he developed a technique called “Soundribbons” in which iPads are used to process and manipulate guitar signals to produce uniquely evocative soundscapes often incorporating field recordings and interactive visuals for live performance. In Berlin Chandler also earned a post-graduate degree in education and served as the head of the guitar department at BIMM College. On May30, 2025 Chandler released his debut solo album The Sound. Rather than the usual type of musical album, it is a set of deep field ambient and otherwise cinematic mood music paired with a visual memoir in book form depicting his shift from urban to rural living where he currently resides in the New Haven, Connecticut area. The vividly rendered collection of images and paintings are served well by the methods Chandler used to process and craft the music and vice versa.

Listen to our interview with Knox Chandler on Bandcamp and connect with the artist at the links below.

knoxchandlermusic.com

Knox Chandler on Instagram

Knox Chandler on Facebook

London Plane Tries to Coax Disaffected Visionaries and Creatives From Self-Imposed Exile on “Come Out of the Dark”

London Plane, photo courtesy the artists

London Plane employs a lo-fi sensibility on its psychedelic post-punk single “Come Out of the Dark.” With the imaginative music video for the song one gets a taste of what feels like a more humanized science fiction concept album that is its new record Bright Black (which released on June 17, 2022). It’s not really comparable sonically or songwriting-wise to Failure’s 1997 masterpiece Fantastic Planet. But conceptually and in terms of how some of the imagery and language used makes for a more colorful storytelling and the ability to tell stories of human psychology and relationships in ways that don’t seem hackneyed or trite. “Come Out of the Dark” deftly incorporates electric and acoustic guitar with synths, drums, bass and poignant vocals for an effect like Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Dazzle” but repurposed as more modern indie pop space rock song. The easy sweep from major chord progression to minor and back throughout the song at unexpected points enhances the emotional impact of its layered melodies. The message of the song encouraging a specific person or the generalized you for whoever needs to hear the words to stop being disengaged, jaded and above it all when you can “be cool” and “come out of the dark” and “be adored,” “Be a defender,” “be a hero.” Yet the tenor of the song is one of understanding of a desire to disconnect with the world and events and community because of how it can wear you down or alienate but if you have some great personal qualities and skills and knowledge it’s wasted in wallowing in cynicism and bitterness when you can enjoy putting that all into the world in a productive way. Even if only a little. The music video is like something that Panos Cosmatos would make if he were in the business of such things and really captures a desire for isolation when the human community needs people of creativity and imagination more than ever. Watch the video on YouTube and follow London Plane at the links below.

London Plane on Facebook

London Plane on Twitter

London Plane on Instagram

“Wave Remnants” and Jesse Woolston’s Ode to the Mystery and Romance of Space Exploration on the Nova EP

JesseWoolston_NovaCover2 — Jesse Woolston *Nova* EP cover

New Zealand-based multi-media artist and composer Jesse Woolston was inspired by his work scoring music for the Carl Sagan Institute and it’s search for habitable exoplanets in making his 2018 EP Nova. The track “Wave Remnants” was surely inspired by the human projection of tranquility and otherworldly beauty on outer space and the quest for signs of life in our own solar system and beyond. But the elegant and mysterious quality of the song is also reminiscent of former Siouxsie & The Banshees bassist Steve Severin’s soundtrack for Nigel Wingrove’s controversial 1989 short film Visions of Ecstasy. The hypnotic unfurling of tone flowing into infinity as ethereal drones on “Wave Remnants” is particularly entrancing. Listen below and if you’re so inclined give the full EP a listen here. There you can also delve into Woolston’s larger catalog.