SubmitHub – Page 4 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Helga Luzhnikova and Anastasia Kriazhevskaia Collaborate to Capture a Sense of Tranquility and Rest Following the Bustle of the Holiday Season on Ambient Composition “The New Year Tree Sisters”

Helga Luzhnikova and Anastasia Kriazhevskaia, photo courtesy the artists

“The New Year Tree Sisters” is a collaborative track between Helga Luzhnikova and Anastasia Kriazhevskaia, experimental electronic composers from the country of Georgia. The song sounds like it’s assembled from various percussion samples and field recordings of weather, chimes, sequenced beats and spectral synth melodies coming together as a kind of sound collage procession. Amid the layers of sound one hears distinct themes coursing through with processed drones peeking through and what sounds like processed xylophone and other tonal percussive noises keeping a loose melody aside from that provided by the synth while wordless vocals drift in to haunt the piece a little. It is intended to embody a time of the world when the holiday activity has settled down some and one has the time and space to observe and reflect upon the world as it is and how it has been. As the track progresses toward the end the sheer details of activity slows down and the distorted signal lines trail off and the ethereal harmonics ascend into the distance. It’s a unique listening experience that actually captures a sense of easing off from intense activity and having one’s attention demanded to a time of rest and tranquility. The composers intended it as a kind of “story about a shamanic journey on a magical New Year’s Eve” and truly sounds like exactly that. Listen to “The New Year Tree Sisters” on Soundcloud and follow Helga Luzhnikova on Spotify.

Sylvia Black Poetically Rejects the Advances of a Philandering Ex on Ethereal and Brooding Post-Punk Single “Long Gone Gardens”

“Long Gone Gardens” has Sylvia Black’s moody and distinct bass playing occupies front and center at the beginning of the song and grounding the ethereal sparkle of the synths and minimal guitar lines. The songwriter’s vocals are similarly strong and sultry. Altogether the song with the visual aspect of the video, shot by Zander Feischko and edited by Sylvia Black, sounds like the missing link between Siouxsie & The Banshees, early Dead Can Dance and darkwave, like a lost classic of the late 80s and early 90s. The kind of band one would hope to catch on a double bill with Q Lazzarus. Haunting and alluring the song captures the mood of someone who was neglected and abandoned by a lover who seems to want to be back in good graces long after failing to cultivate something genuine in pursuit of surface level amorous encounters. Watch the video for “Long Gone Gardens” on YouTube and follow Sylvia Black at the links below. The new album Shadowtime is out January 16, 2026.

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Stray Theories Ambient, Post-Rock Single “Catalyst” is Like the Closing Music For a Science Fiction-Themed Cosmic Horror Film

Stray Theories, photo courtesy the artist

The atmospheric drift and flow of “Catalyst” by Stray Theories is anchored by a minimalist piano line and processional drums with a hovering guitar drone that traces the outer edges of where the tones expand outward. The project incorporates a touch of discordance in the decaying harmonics while bell tones warm the melancholic mood of the piece. All distinct musical elements dissolve into the slow-modulating haze of sounds peeking through white noise like the musical analog of the end of the universe in a uniform state of entropy. The track has a sense of unease yet soothing at the same time like an acceptance of the inevitable. Think the closing sequences of a science fiction/cosmic horror film. Although the song title suggests the ending of one thing or cycle and the beginning of another. Listen to “Catalyst” on YouTube and follow Stray Theories at the links provided.

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Ones Loved’s “Fate by Design” is an IDM Dream Pop Song Imbued With Warmth and Sensitivity For a Relationship in the Process of Reconciling

Ones Loved combine a kind of dream pop sound palette with an IDM sensibility on its single “Fate by Design.” Meditative beats, intimate vocals seemingly sequenced, lingering bass lines and impressionistic guitar work conspire to convey the impression of a relationship in the process of reconciling. The music video has hazy images that match the layered atmospherics of the song and imagery that seems drawn from afternoon reveries and late night musings and in general a bit like one of those fan videos people have made for Boards of Canada with the mysterious footage stitched together but capturing the mood of the songs perfectly. The words without the clumsiness of being explicit and also without intellectualizing feelings express a depth of appreciation and understanding of another person while acknowledging how and where things might have broken down is something not so common in the realm of pop music and hits an affecting note here. Watch the video for “Fate by Design” on YouTube and follow Ones Loved at the links below.

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Hit Like A Girl’s Searing Emo Single “Keepsake Theory” is a Perfect Summation of Falling in Love and Subsequent Heartbreak

“Keepsake Theory” by Hit Like A Girl comes forth like an actual fusion of hardcore and synth pop with a thrilling energy. The lyrics sung by Nicolle Maroulis (they/them) have an undeniable gut punch for anyone that has ever felt like they had something with someone only to find out maybe the feelings or at least the commitment weren’t equally mutual and the searing pain of that realization. But what the song also contains within the lyrics and the performance of the music is the aftermath of processing that initial shot to the heart and honoring the emotions and sense of connection that drew you and a lost love together even if it didn’t ultimately turn out how you wanted it to. There’s a power in those moments and Hit Like A Girl expresses that entirety of the experience in mere three minutes twenty with a dramatic flourish and pitch perfect poignancy. The band’s new album Burning at Both Ends releases March 27, 2026 via Cryptid Records.

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Bad Flamingo Celebrates Arbitrary Social Taboos on Experimental Indie Folk Single “Shame”

Bad Flamingo, photo courtesy the artists

Bad Flamingo has truly been evolving in new directions as a band and the single “Shame” is a marked stylistic departure from its most recent compositions. A sustained focus on textural rhythm with the vocals carrying the melody runs throughout the song with some lingering guitar haunting the edges. The lyrics are not so much about a couple on the run from mainstream society. Rather, it’s a song about not feeling bad about being one’s authentic self even if it isn’t in alignment with traditional values and conventional mores and exulting in the kind of shame projected on anyone daring to transgress in the most basic of ways. The song seems to be about a love that doesn’t have the sanction of society but it’s a significant permutation beyond what the duo has been thus far in the songwriting. It’s like the adventure part of the long arc of the band’s mythology is in the past or on pause with some moments to reflect on what exactly is going on and making sense and reaffirming one’s dignity on a path to being where in fact shame is an unnecessary aspect of one’s life cast on you by judgmental folk who can’t seem to mind their own business. Watch the video for “Shame” on YouTube and follow Bad Flamingo at the links below.

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Bad Peach Says Farewell to a New York City Mass Transit Institution With the Scrappy Art Punk Single “My Metrocard”

With “My Metrocard” Bad Peach pays tribute to the venerable MetroCard (in place since 1993) being phased out in late 2025 as a method to pay for using the public transit system in New York, replaced by the contactless, tap-to-pay OMNY (One Metro New York) system by card and phone. The song is a fusion of scrappy art punk and lo-fi synth pop and shows the band performing on the transit platforms around NYC and near shouting the conflicted affection for the fixture in one’s life as a New Yorker. “You kind of suck, but I kind of liked it/You’re kind of ugly but in a good way” sums up the attitude in saying goodbye to something that seemed like yet another part of everyday life we have to bid farewell in favor of something that seems to always invite more surveillance into our lives. Bad Peach rages against this dubious gesture of progress because that sort of thing in late capitalism usually means we pay more for less. Watch the video for “My Metrocard” on YouTube and follow Bad Peach on Spotify.

Blue Tomorrows Works Through Heartache With Grace and Humor on Dream Pop Single “Santa Cruz”

Blue Tomorrows, photo courtesy the artist

Blue Tomorrows strikes a bittersweet note on “Santa Cruz.” Somewhere betwixt the tone of a countrified Marianne Faithfull on “Witches’ Song” and Low doing a Christmas song, the band employs an electronic bass line with a touch of phaser, light, almost shimmery acoustic guitar and vocals processed to sound both tender and otherworldly to great effect. The music video shows snow-laden trees the kind one isn’t likely to find in Santa Cruz, California but the warmly luminous melodies and wistful evocation of more pleasant memories to chase away the heartfelt melancholia paired with this imagery seems fitting. The song ends with our narrator finding a way to laugh again after a period of working through heartache and really feeling those lows as the only path to get through an emotionally rough patch intact. Watch the video for “Santa Cruz” on YouTube and follow Blue Tomorrows at the links below. The new album Weather Forever released December 12, 2025.

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Folktronica Single “modet” by meekmoss is a Meditation on the Everyday Routines That Make Our Lives Sustainable

An enigmatic yet warm drone brings us into meekmoss’ “modest” before minimal guitar and percussion joins vocals in an impressionistic dynamic until the song opens up like a rapidly developing dawn. This is a pattern in the song that reflects its themes of the recurring patterns and rituals in one’s life that whether we think about them or not keep our lives going and sustainable. Sure there are moments of great action color, drama, intensity and deeply meaningful experiences but all are connected by quieter moments that whether or not we appreciate them or notice make the big events we get to experience possible. The song meditates on that interconnecting time and activity that seems manageable and an awareness of these times and how important they are to our very existence. The line “And daily routine keeps me alive” is so simple but anyone that has had to deal with health issues knows that regular activities and rituals can be critical to keeping one’s life going and on an even keel so that those things that count as significant events can be engaged in with our full selves. The song balances the line between folk and experimental electronic pop and between texture, tone and rhythm perfectly without seeming effort in parallel with the need for awareness of small details that don’t always get our full, conscious focus. Listen to “modest” on Spotify and follow German Folktronica group meekmoss at the links provided.

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TRAITRS’ Deeply Melancholic Single “If Was Ill, You Were Wrong” is a Salve on Deep Psychic Pain

“I Was Ill, You Were Wrong” by Canadian post-punk band TRAITRS has the hazy synth melodies underneath highly emotive vocals and driving rhythms one might expect out of early 80s The Cure. The heartwrenching vocals express the feelings of someone who has been on the receiving end of what feels like an especially spate of lack of empathy. It is the sound of someone profoundly hurt and disappointed yet sympathetic to the pain and misfortune that resulted in a situation in which people connected are split because bad habits are unbanished by affection. Listen to “I Was Ill, You Were Wrong” on YouTube and follow TRAITRS at the links below. The band’s new album POSSESSOR releases March 13, 2026 on vinyl, digital download and streaming.