“Sustain” begins with a simple guitar riff with the intimate physicality of pick on strings left intact. This textural element in this song by Denver’s State Fair grounds it even as the vocals come in hushed and the suggestion of a dreamlike atmospherics flow in the open spaces of the song. But as the song enters the last quarter, bombastic, distorted riffs burn through the comforting haze like a purging of the melancholic flavor and sentiments that informed what preceded. It hits the ears like a dream pop that picked up some strains of influence from classic indiepop and the more post-rock of the early 2000s posthardcore bands pairing an appealing delicacy with emotional heft. Listen to “Sustain” on Spotify, look for State Fair’s EP due out later in 2022 and connect with the band on Instagram.
is the new EP from talker and her songwriting experiments in expressing a set of feelings and experiences with great poignancy and invention is obvious across the whole release. The song “Little Bird,” though, finds talker centering her warmly luminous vocals to relate a memory of being in a place in life where you feel like someone else or yourself conditioned by what you’ve learned to expect out of life is chipping your dignity and identity away. With your self-respect thus eroded it feels difficult to break away from that cycle of dysfunction and yet awareness of that state of affairs is a message to your psyche in itself. The song doesn’t promise some miracle rescue or some throwaway line about how things are going to get better and no cheesy sentiments about triumphing over this time in life it suggests that you have within yourself the ability to move beyond that head space simply by seeing things for what they are and sometimes hearing that in a song or, heck, writing the song is the catalyst. Which is a more creative and practical approach to conveying that content. Listen to “Little Bird” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the EP and follow talker at the links provided.
“Dot” is A Beacon School’s first release in three years and its free flowing swirl of colorful tones promise some deeply imaginative soundscaping in the forthcoming album due out sometime in the hopefully non-too distant future. Its gentle psychedelia and expansive dynamic is an interesting choice for a song that blends a contemplation on creating a work of art and a reflection on one’s own life. The way one creates say a visual work or a song from conceptualization stage to execution in sketches and stages, parts and passages and going through life considering what paths to take, small choices that establish an overall pattern that you hope you can consciously guide or set in motion in ways that unfold to one’s satisfaction. In both cases imagining you’ve discovered a new method, a new aesthetic, a dramatic breakthrough in one’s creative work and life only to discover patterns that emerge from the character you’ve made for yourself. And yet in that realization is the consciousness of ways to work with instincts and habits and break or transform them in ways that seem viable and sustainable. And ideally through multiple iterations of these attempts we can establish more rewarding patterns in art and in life. Musically the layers of synth and flow of textures is reminiscent of the dream pop of Sound of Ceres and the main melodic line in the song strongly resonates with that of Stereolab’s “Blue Milk” so that an unconventional free jazz element provides an informal structure to the way the song organically resolves in a way that keeps your attention to the end. Listen to “Dot” on YouTube and follow A Beacon School at the links provided.
Graffiti Welfare are on to a very real personal phenomenon with the song “Volume.” It’s something that could only happen from the late Twentieth Century onward but reflects an aspect of human psychology and culture that goes back to our most ancient of days. The shimmering tone and ethereal vocals with some fairly funky bass, synth drone and expressive percussion cast a dreamlike quality on the song and the lines “Turn the television on while I get some sleep/Leave the volume up, man it’s the same to me” that open the song expresses how familiar sounds and energies can soothe our minds so that we can get adequate rest. Not everyone but the kinds of people who maybe in ancient times had the habits of being aware of environmental sounds and when those sounds and sense of movement remain familiar their nerves could relax some but when that normalcy is interrupted they shock to awareness. “I’m scared the volume will cut out/While I’m asleep/Next day no voice on the street” speaks to that ancient mindset adapted to a modern context. Even when a television station will broadcast different programs there is a kind of constancy and predictability to the sound level and dynamics that is not unlike the fires going on, the sound of wind in grass, the regularity of water lapping at the shore and so on. On another level the song articulates what it’s like to have a survival mentality where maybe you feel like you have to be hyper vigilant and pin your ability to relax on these unconventional cultural tools that might actually agitate people not saddled with those sensitive instincts. Musically it’s like a psychedelic, moody synth pop song that fans of Nation of Language and Lake Trout might enjoy. Listen to “Volume” on Spotify and follow Graffiti Welfare at the links below.
House of Light orchestrates multiple streams of tone on “House of Love” to give the song its bright and urgent yet melancholic vibrance. The lead single from the group’s new album 21st Century Prayer (out soon on Bandcamp) is reminiscent of that strain of modern darkwave that taps into the better end of the first wave of Gene Loves Jezebel and The Mission UK. Except that House of Light seem more keen on delivering classic pop hooks more in the vein of synth pop of that era as well for a sound that reconciles that tonal darkness and spirit with an upbeat dynamic. Fans of Actors, Bootblacks and Wingtips will find a lot to like about the way House of Light uses guitar tone to cut a scintillating figure through the soundscape in sync with the rhythm. Is the potential nod to Sisters of Mercy’s “Temple of Love”? Possibly but either way another touchstone for House of Light, surely. Whatever is in the mix, it’s an aesthetic that recalls an earlier era of music while imbuing it with a modern resonance and sensibility. The music video for the song shows the group seemingly performing in a repurposed church with projections of luminous washes and the surrounding architecture looking like some music video only seen on a public access music video program and thus adding a layer of mystery to the song’s impact. Watch “House of Love” on YouTube and follow House of Light at the links provided.
“Almost Home” is The Big Sway’s first single from it’s forthcoming album WeMade This For You (due out Summer 2022) and its frantic pace story finds a manifestation in the unusual music video. It depicts a dashboard hula dancer with a ukulele “dancing” in time with cross country road trips juxtaposed with images of monstrous driver and passenger in the car, time lapse traffic to exaggerate the chaotic nature of of traveling by car and interstate maps. Musically it’s a cousin to for much of the song to Zen Arcade-period Hüsker Dü but then in the last section of the song things slow down to a tranquil and echoing melody with Polaroids of the trip scrolling across the screen. It’s a lot like touring in a band. A lot of hurrying up and packing in a lot of shows and other action into a compressed period of time and not having a lot of time to think and unexpected periods of having time away from the focus of the tour which is getting to the venues and playing and loading out and finding a place to sleep before hitting the road again. It can be frustrating and fraught but there is a certain excitement to it even when you run into a less than idea situation at a venue, with a particular show with the outcome thereof and so on—it’s all a part of the adventure that seems over so soon. Then at the end that sensation of getting home after a long drive and how surreal and tranquil it feels and comforting and then taking the time out to reflect before returning to regular life seems to take on greater significance than merely coming home after a vacation. The Big Sway captures those emotions perfectly in this song and whether it’s sort of a love letter to the life of a band on tour it sure sounds like it and Damon Bishop’s music video a fantastic visual representation of that time as well. Watch “Almost Home” on YouTube and follow The Big Sway at the links below.
“Don’t Talk” by moodring is one of those songs that sounds so sunny it’s like a musical manifestation of a TV version of California. But like the actual California there’s a real version with all the regular human challenges and this tune sounds like the kind of song that delves into a nuance of human relationships and interior life that can wash by you if you don’t take the time to think and feel it through. It’s a beyond break-up song. But sung from a melancholic perspective of a person who is ready to move on from a situation that became intolerable but the other party keeps wanting to re-enter her life by lingering around the edges of her life. Singer Charli Smith somehow makes the chorus of “Don’t talk through nothing if you’re not just gonna walk back” work with Brandon Brewer’s careful production and rhythm. And in doing so makes a very heavy sentiment seem to float away like the wearied anxiety the situation must produce. Fans of Japanese Breakfast will appreciate the palette of sounds and the way the duo writes bright and moody melodies in a dream pop/bedroom pop style that linger with you. Listen to “Don’t Talk” on Spotify and follow moodring at the links below.
The Worst’s single “Monomania” from its forthcoming second album Yes Regrets (out June 3 on RascalZ RecordZ) combines determined punk rock grit with power pop tunefulness. Singer Brooke Binion often gets compared to Joan Jett for a good reason because she has that sort of forcefulness but tonally her vocals are more reminiscent to these ears of one of Jett’s former bandmates in the Runaways: Lita Ford. The latter even on her more metal solo albums had/has a huskily melodic power in her voice. For the music video Joshua James Hand shows Binion performing on a dimly yet colorfully lit stage juxtaposed to running through fields of snow into a forest as though running from something and getting lost only to find a mirror that stops her in her tracks confronted by the person responsible for that desperate state of things. The song, as the title suggests, is about how we often pursue something thinking it’s what we want and need having convinced ourselves of the viability of that thing because it worked for us before. Specifically the chorus of “you go chasing feelings/you’ll be sorry every time” speaks directly to the cycle of undermining our lives that everyone can find relatable if you’re the kind of person that has a passionate streak. It can be hard to admit to your shortcomings and mistakes but this song by The Worst makes it somehow seem okay and absolutely necessary even if you stumble. Everyone does. Watch the video for “Monomania” on YouTube, follow The Worst at the links below and look out for Yes Regrets out June 3 with production by Will Holland and includes guest drumming from Nikki Glaspie (Beyoncé, The Nth Power) and features members of Morphine, The Distillers and SeepeopleS.
“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.
For “I Like You,” Bloods’ latest single from the forthcoming album Together, Baby!, the group tapped the talents of Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! Fame and an obvious influence on the Australian trio. The song has an upbeat momentum and exuberant melodicism of The Breeders. It’s lyrics could apply to a friendship or a romantic relationship in which the bond is especially strong and in which the feeling is not just love but like and there’s a difference but having both at once reinforces those feelings in a way that feels special. Grace comes in during the second stanza with fortifying vocals and in the last part of the song Grace and Bloods trade lines and come together in the end where the song makes perhaps more explicit the type of relationship described with the lins “Not sleeping alone anymore/Never sleeping alone anymore” and the words “You pull me in I pick you up/Now we can stop pretending” that close out the song hits with more poignancy. The song isn’t much over two minutes but it feels like it describes an important relationship with great economy. Listen to “I Like You” on YouTube, look out for Together, Baby! The group’s debut album out September 23 through Share it Music (proceeds from the album going to Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Australia) and follow Bloods at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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