SubmitHub – Page 83 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Mirabelle Skipworth’s Cosmic Folk Song “Good Morning” is a Gentle Embodiment of Working Through Inner Emotional and Spiritual Conflict

Mirabelle Skipworth, photo courtesy the artist

Mirabelle Skipworth’s elegant guitar work on “Good Morning” follows an unconventional melodic and rhythmic path throughout the song. When her vocals come in to provide a more explicit narrative framework of melancholic and spiritual unrest we are guided through the labyrinth of emotions with music that has an immediacy and intimacy in its intricacies.. In the background a low key drone swells while Skipworth beckons for relief from a deep and unsettling uncertainty that torments her in the early hours when there is time and quiet to contemplate and perhaps untangle this knot of emotion before the activity of daytime demands one’s focus. In moments the yearning and ache Skipworth expresses is reminiscent of some of the emotional resonances one hears in a Joanna Newsom song and though there is more than a strand of the ethereal and ghostly here too its folk stylings are mixed with more than a touch of country. Listen to “Good Morning” on Spotify and follow Mirabelle Skipworth at the links below. Her new EP This Morning’s Malaise released on March 17, 2023 and is available through Spotify as well.

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Pynch Pulls the Mask of the Myth of Meritocracy Off With Elegant Sarcasm on Art Pop Single “London”

That “London” by Pynch sounds so low key celebratory yet has lyrics that are so poetically acerbic makes the song hit deeper. Its rich low end of which its playful melodies and measured rhythms bounce and pulse is enveloping and inviting and in moments one is reminded of the vibe of Pulp’s “Common People” and how that song in its time commented so sagely on class and culture. “We waste our money all on drugs and coffee/We must be so lazy, why don’t we start saving?/Every penny counts if we wanna buy a house/Twenty years from now, the banks will bail us out.” Those words and how the face value meaning of them minus the sarcasm cut through all the excuses, nonsense and corrosive mythology of late capitalism more clearly than some overlong manifesto thick on theory divorced from anyone’s lived experience. “Have you ever dreamed of owning your own home? That’s just a bourgeois fantasy, better leave that shit alone/Welcome to the real world, you’re not the only one that’s scared/Spo try and find some peace of mind if you can.” That kind of gaslighting every working class or even middle class person has heard their whole lives. Pynch seem keenly aware of how now even the middle class is finding its own formerly comfortable economic position seems precarious but of course it’s your fault when the system itself isn’t work and the bulk of the windfall of productivity is funneled into fewer and fewer hands. It’s a gorgeous indictment of a world out of balance and while it doesn’t offer a solution because certainly an actual solution will require great political will that hasn’t quite coalesced into an overwhelming movement just yet it’s a song of solidarity and an expression of not buying into the bullshit we’re expected to take on without question. Watch the video for “London” on YouTube and follow the UK band Pynch at the links below. The group’s new album Howling At A Concret Moon released on April 14, 2023.

Dax Prophesies his Coming Transformation in the Science Fiction-Themed Music Video for “Quiet Storm”

The video for Dax’s remix of “Quiet Storm” begins with a simple question: “Do you believe aliens exist?” Then Dax as an alien not unlike Louis Gossett Jr. in Enemy Mine invades the bridge of a starship and the crew subdues him temporarily and throw him into the brig and analyze him and what makes him work and try to dissect his capabilities. But this all reflects his rapid fire stream of consciousness lyrics that catalog a litany of issues and complaints commenting on the state of the world, some of which sounds like a fantastical conspiracy theory fantasy mixed in with some time traveling cultural references so that it all fits in with the forceful rhyme scheme. It’s the sound of someone on the verge of something with a brain boiling over with anxiety and desperation to direct that energy into something authentic and impactful and in that state sometimes the ideas come to you dense and in rapid succession. Dax captures that moment in the song and pairs it with a melancholic beat and the contrast as usual, with the always creative imagery, is what gives the song its emotional resonance. Watch the video for “Quiet Storm” on YouTube and follow Dax at the links provided.

Dax on TikTok

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Eleanor Hammond Reminds Us to Strive for Real World Everyday Satisfaction Over the Fleeting Rewards of Living Online on the Soulful Synthpop Song “Dream Chaser”

Eleanor Hammond’s luminously melancholic “Dream Chaser” floats on an ambient melody and anchored by processional beats. It sounds like a 1980s synth pop ballad cast in modern production methods and gently echoing percussion like ideas and words fluttering off into the ether of fading aspirations as Hammond utters the lyrics. It’s a song about not getting lost in the dubious achievements of social media and how the roller coaster of emotions involved can warp your psyche and your goals and define them according to the whims of wherever the algorithms are being tweaked during any given time to meet the demands of marketing and monetization metrics and the ever mutating nature of the flows of engagement. Hammond in her yearning voice encourages herself and anyone listening to trust not in the whims of others as dictated by the demands of a corporation and its complete lack of truly personal regard for you as a human and focus on the tangible and genuine immediacy and intimacy rather than its unsatisfying virtual attempt to simulate the same. Listen to “Dream Chaser” on Soundcloud and follow Hammond at the links below.

Eleanor Hammond on TikTok

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Sons of Zöku Invite Us to Join Together to Build a Sustainable Future on the Psychedelic Tribal Folk Song “Earth Chant”

Sons of Zöku, photo courtesy the artists

The steady thrum of bass and tambourine strike alongside the harmonized vocals singing in tandem in mantra-like fashion sets the stage for a hypnotic, ritualistic mood from the beginning of “Earth Chant.” The song by Sons of Zöku weaves together the aforementioned instrumentation and minimalist drumming, colorful, fuzzy psychedelic guitar and meditative flute in a song that sounds so primal and tribal with a mystical orientation that looks forward to a unified human and spiritual future on a journey that connects the distant past with a future through a time when much of human civilization seems bent on self-destruction. The line “meet me on the other side if you will” may not refer to this path out of a long period of cultural derangement and may be a completely personal statement on one person’s experience in life but the communal energy of the song suggests otherwise and its gentle spirit invites the listener onto a parallel course in getting right with a sustainable time to come with the will to get there. Listen to “Earth Chant” on Spotify and follow the Australian band at the links below.

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Sons of Zöku on YouTube

Madlen Keys Brings Us on a Tour Through Phases of Emotional Darkness and Light on “Ubik”

Madlen Keys opens “Ubik” with a Siouxie-esque, murky tranquility before it all elevates into borderline cacophony to reflect the shift of emotions that runs through the song. The brooding opening of the music gives way to layered, discordant passages and back and forth like its charting the central conflict of the song between expressive self-assertion and melancholic introspection. It’s a song of contrasts of noisy and ethereal melodic, minor chord progressions and traditional song structure and tone. Named after a 1969 Philip K. Dick novel, “Ubik” is about mental illness and the confusing narratives it can run through the brain swinging one’s psychology from great activity to stasis and how it can feel and often is beyond the control of the sufferer. But most people deal with bouts of mental illness in periods of great stress and emotional challenge in their lives. “Ubik” feels like running that gauntlet of moods and working through it. Listen to “Ubik” on Spotify and follow Madlen Keys at the links below.

Madlen Keys on Facebook

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NIGHTSISTER Taps Into the Aesthetics of Late 80s Public Access Music Video Programs in the Video for Coldwave/Post-punk Song “Hometown Wound”

Portland, Oregon’s NIGHTSISTER seem to have tapped into late 80s underground music video culture in its own cinematic treatment via Talon Media of “Hometown Wound.” It looks like a much more modern update of the collage of images and live performance videos one might have seen on more public access video programs for Wax Trax and affiliated industrial and Goth bands of the aforementioned era with the sense that maybe it was produced in an underground club or in the band’s warehouse or basement and there’s an undeniable appeal of such a low budget yet stylish approach. Could the singer be wearing an old Fearing t-shirt? Who can say but him but if so, nice touch. At any rate, the coldwave track has emotionally resonant yet distant sounding vocals and the kind of distorted and brooding, looping guitar work one might have expected to hear in a late 80s Sisters of Mercy song. But the dusky aesthetic and the moody melodies should appeal to fans of modern darkwave artists like She Past Away (which this band has covered), Haunt Me and French Police. Watch the video for “Hometown Wound” on YouTube and follow NIGHTSISTER at the links provided. NIGHTSISTER released its latest EP Send Angels Here EP on February 28, 2023 and now available on digital and limited edition cassette.

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Kisu Min Shine a Light on the Plight Struggling People Around the World on the Upbeat New Wave Track “Kurds”

Kisu Min from Łódź, Poland mix an anthemic, introspective sound at the beginning of “Kurds.” But the song soon ramps up into an energetic modern equivalent to a mid-80s New Wave and post-punk sound. Think something like Big Country or O.M.D.. Fluttering synth, ethereal vocal melodies, crystalline guitar lines, buoyant rhythms all work together in a song about how Western powers, especially the USA, have basically abandoned the Kurds in various conflicts after pretending to be allies while seemingly casually neglecting the struggles of people in other regions of the world until there is some profit to be made but not on their behalf, but in the pursuit of economic interests. Of course economics mean zero without people but our species, especially those with power and wealth, seems to lack the ability to lean that basic fact and extrapolate from there. Kisu Min just put these kinds of ideas and the destructive fallout therefrom into a vibrant pop song that on the virtue of a catchy, bright melody alone could be on mainstream radio and playlists in the classic juxtaposition of lighthearted music with lyrics that don’t truck in vapid niceties. Watch the video for “Kurds” on YouTube and follow Kisu Min at the links below. The band’s album City of Revolution released on February 27, 2023.

Kisu Min on Facebook

Kisu Min on Instagram

Laveda’s Gently Poignant “Troy Creeps” is a Simple Song About the Complex Maze of Human Relationships

Laveda crafts the build of “Troy Creeps” expertly with the minimal guitar riffing and steady drum beat with electronic swirls in the background while the vocals carry the emotional weight of the song. It’s a song about complex feelings and the intricacies of social interactions and relationships with a real insight into how things can get messy when your heart has overlapping loyalties and burdened with uncertainties and all colored by past experiences that mean everyone comes to every situation with assumptions and emotional scars and trauma that can completely dictate every situation unless you take the time to talk them out some and not act on impulse. This simple song with its emotionally charged yet elegantly crafted melody does justice to that everyday reality that often goes overlooked and isn’t often the subject matter of pop songs that focus on love and life as something that is part of our minds with absolute clarity. It’s a realistic song about how we are and we we can extend that understanding to others if we approach each other with honesty and integrity. Watch the video for “Troy Creeps” on YouTube and follow Laveda at the links below. Laveda’s new album A Place You Grew Up In released on April 14, 2023 on digital, vinyl, cassette and CD and all can be purchased through the Bandcamp link.

Laveda on TikTok

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Rat Champion’s Gorgeously Crushing “Face” is a Deeply Bittersweet Shoegaze Catharsis of Painful Memories

Rat Champion, photo courtesy the artists

Rat Champion’s use of small details in the guitar riffs like the bends and single note accents really lends the song “Face” from its new EP Flux (released March 18, 2023) a subtle and powerful poignancy in addition to the song’s already enveloping emotional vibrancy. The clipped, doom-like guitar riff paired with truly captivating vocal harmonies and burnished and flowing swells of guitar and percussion brings to the song a touch of grit to help frame a song that is so deeply bittersweet in its evocation of heartbreak and what sounds like painful and haunting memories of familial abuse. The fact that the song is so gorgeous in its atmospherics and its songwriting so expansive in tone makes its subject matter hit a little harder and makes the potential catharsis more thorough. Listen to “Face” on YouTube and follow Rat Champion from Boise, Idaho at the links below.

Rat Champion on Instagram