On Greta Ruth’s lovely “At the Place,” dreams become tangible. When the lush, green video opens with her quietly lying in the grass asleep, it’s an invitation into this delicate world. Flittering guitar melodies scatter like seeds through the air. Tenderness laces the strings while her voice flickers across the song’s surface, timeless and haunted. “At the Place” is where I want to get lost … Continue reading Video Premiere: Greta Ruth “At The Place”
Water is the medium for a cleansing ritual in Devin Jane Febbroriello’s transcendent video for “Clearing” from Sage Fisher’s newest Dolphin Midwives album, Body of Water. Across three acts, Febbroriello’s filmmaking techniques enhance the emotional depth and impact of the song. Shining like a torch over the aqueous electronics and pulsing beat, Fisher’s voice is fractured yet confident, steeled with anxious determination. Fisher’s vulnerability is a … Continue reading Video Premiere: Dolphin Midwives “Clearing”
Better Than Invisible is the new split LP from Benjamin David Felton and The Paul Swest on Modern Meanlingless Records. Besides making me laugh, this video is a perfect teaser for this excellent album. The Paul Swest’s skronking good time, “It Major Ice I Saying,” has an oddly controlled sonic spasticity I find exciting. It’s like being inside with all the turning gears and gizmos … Continue reading Video Premiere: Better Than Invisible
I’ve listened to SiP’s stellar album on Not Not Fun last year, Leos Naturals, so many times I’ve lost count. Jimmy Lacy has an uncanny ability to write songs that float effervescently through time as if they were beamed in from another dimension. “Indialantic Book I” comes from the fantastic Moon Glyph compilation, Amethyst. Lacy ventures into new pastures on “Indialantic Book I,” exploring a more acoustic palette … Continue reading Video Premiere: SiP “Indialantic Book I”
What is serenity? What does it sound like? On the opening missive from the collaborative album between awakened souls and From Overseas, serenity is an endless sky; it’s the feeling of being suspended in midair, weightless and unencumbered by gravity. Aeriform drones spread like golden wings, fueled by the anticipation of an earthly embrace. Lilting vocals are the sun kissing unseen wounds, sanguine piano chords … Continue reading Video Premiere: awakened souls & From Overseas “Certainty Of Tides”
Peter Tran’s Curved Light project’s new album, Spirit Echo, is a surprise. Taking a more beat-driven, direct approach, Tran has crafted an apprehensive collection of songs where life and death is at the center. Trepidation flows like sonic currents throughout Spirit Echo, only finding a sense of solace and closure at the very end. “Perfect Blue” closes the album, almost as a coda, with layers of spiraling, … Continue reading Video Premiere: Curved Light “Perfect Blue”
When the overcast skies begin to part, those first stray beams of light pierce the veil, like celestial spotlights searching the ground for answers to questions not yet asked. Karen Vogt’s voice on “Panacea” propels the pristine stillness of Pepo Galán’s composition into motion, languidly moving from cloud to cloud, a weightless angel pulling the planetary strings. Prismatic colors blossom into lucid rainbows covering the … Continue reading Video Premiere: Galán / Vogt “Panacea”
Megan Alice Clune’s forthcoming If You Do is one of the strangest, and one of my favorite, Room 40 releases this year. “So Bored” is the soundtrack to those moments where it’s hard to tell if it’s a dream or reality. Restrained synths rise and fall, echoing late into the night as a haze deepens behind my eyes, bleary and lost in this fractious moment. Clune’s voice … Continue reading Video Premiere: Megan Alice Clune “So Bored”
Robert Takahashi Crouch’s new album, Jubilee, is a crucible. Buried deep within its molten confines are remnants of an existential crisis and conflict, melted into a simmering sonic narrative. First offering, “Reconciliation,” shifts the viewpoint, rising slowly and purposefully from the fire. Modulating drones grow and contract, building up the nerve to plunge into the depths, to find the glowing core and extinguish its traumatic … Continue reading Video Premiere: Robert Takahashi Crouch “Reconciliation”
Cody Yantis’s work is always purposefully reserved, revealing only the moments that need to be heard. On “Invisible Damage,” from his forthcoming full-length, Physical Silence, acoustic guitar, banjo, and piano cautiously stick a toe into the ice-cold water. Ready for the moment where the figure in the distance comes into focus, Yantis’s contemplative sojourn builds to a gentle crest of bowed strings and soft reeds roiling … Continue reading Video Premiere: Cody Yantis “Invisible Damage”
