SINGLE REVIEW: ZO “Never Meant”
Staff Pick
Photo credit: Hunter Carrico
Fronting the guitar and drum while the voice gradually moving forward then distancing itself to the background, “Never Meant” by the Philly band ZO challenges your senses with an extraordinary sonic arrangement. Gina Zo’s stunning, expressive vocal soulfully lingers behind the woozy sound wall, dipping in various influences with powerful, unforgettable performance.
The moment of letting go of expectations opens up the door to a new adventure that could set you free. From Red Hot Chili Pepper-inspired guitar riffs, the vocal line comes in from a distance, slowly moving forward. There’s a sense of rawness and openness in the drum.
The captivating, expressive, and passionate vocal line is immediately the highlight that invites you into the more dazzling texture. Brewing in the overriding electric resonance is an unfamiliar feeling being evoked. “Never Meant” has a cinematic approach in its songwriting.
ZO brings something unexpected and exciting for their listeners with the joining hands of a range of gifted, seasoned musicians. Lead singer Gina Zo was featured in NBC’s The Voice, while veteran drummer Mazzenga is an experienced musician gigging among various musicians. Detulleo is a current film-scoring student at Berklee College of Music.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: CATALYSTS “You Got No Soul”
Discovery
Dynamic and full of energy, CATALYSTS is a band that doesn’t settle with the ordinary. “You Got No Soul” is constantly on the move, from one idea to another, from the obvious to the impossible. CATALYSTS is here to challenge and achieve.
Living in the present marks their anthem. A distorted guitar riff full of personality. CATALYSTS dives right into the hook within 10 seconds of the song, heavy-hitting, and soul-shaking, filled with metal-core energy.
On the other hand, the verse drifts into a completely different dreamscape with hypnotic riff and slight psychedelic dissonance. The bridge offers something else. In its immersive, massive sonics, the song evokes profound feelings.
“You Got No Soul” is structurally minimalistic yet intricate and complex in its formation. You could hear the sound of sparks when ideas and inspirations interact and engage in stimulating conversation. “We adopt a fearless approach when it comes to exploring new sounds, creating the spark and energy that is CATALYSTS,” the band commented.
Written by Katrina Yang
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LP REVIEW: AARON RIZZO ‘Mirror Talk Blue’
Album of the Week
Photo credit: Devin Kasparian
“Deference” introduces the LP with an emotive, stunning naturescape, evoking profound feelings in its beautiful, string-infused sonic texture. Cinematic grand gesture and intricate production in combination with a dream pop, singer-songwriter oriented songwriting invites its listener to an exploration beyond the traditional definition of a rock band.
Mirror Talks Blue goes into a change of narrative in its storytelling. From an introductory soundtrack, Aaron Rizzo dives straight into a captivating, punchy dreamscape. Persistent, minimalistic drumbeat paired with emotive electric texture,“Gone Mad” is anthemic and captivating.
Trimming his Strat, Aaron Rizzo further explores and channels the soul out of electric guitar. “Home Weeps” introduces us to a vast, starry skyscape with clouds floating above. Fuzzy bass drives a subwoofer rhythm deep underneath, shaking the ground while the sonics vibrate through your bones. Pop infused catchiness is reintroduced.
“To Witness Love” and “To Witness A Death” are two sides of one coin. “To Witness Love” narrates around a distinct, lo-fi, blurry sonics, fusing intimate lyricism. The sound of water dripping echoes between the sound walls, diving into an unexpected stage of pop vocabulary. “To Witness A Death” remains the vulnerability, starting with a light staccato of tenderness and ceremonial seriousness evolving into a messy, reverberant background that lives and breathes with the vocal line. There’s a sense of suffocation in its sadness as it sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
“Someone to Love Me” surprises us with a spanish guitar inspired colorism, spinning into an eerie, immersive floral immersion. “Epiphany” concludes the album with another beautiful, airy expansion of instrumentals, emerging from the string of a voice to flashbacks and surreality.
Written by Katrina Yang
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THE COOKIE JAR COMPLOT “NEO”
Discovery
Photo credit: Nathalie Nicola
From an ethereal, stary skyscape, “NEO” drifts into an emotive soundscape as the interplay continues to evolve between the percussion and guitars. A captivating riff emerges from slightly chaotic sonics, surrounded by familiar, unfamiliar colorful Northwestern European influences, The Cookie Jar Complot brings to us an enchanting, stimulating encounter with“NEO.”
Experimental elements freely improvise and interact with more rooted musical traditions. The dance of jazz meets an indie rock sonic environment, weaving the flourish, fruitful melodic ideas. It swirls and twirls, brewing in the air.
“NEO” has a vibrant, orange aura in its expanding sound and storytelling. Layers of guitar intertwine and interact, from one conversation to another, the story continues. Thematic throwback brings back a different feeling each time. In the butterfly-like reverberant background, a new adventure unravels.
Based in Luxembourg, The Cookie Jar Complot is an instrumental indie duo of Sven Schmeler and Gilles Glesener both are active and experienced musicians involved in many other acts and projects. Drawing vast influences from their musical background, the duo creates a variety of color palettes rich in content and expression.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW:JIM JAM “TROUBLED SOUL”
Discovery
Photo credit: Ollie Couling
Capturing the rare moments of hope, “Troubled Soul” touches on depression with a positive outlook, connecting audiences on a human level. Minimalistic lyricism in combination with captivating melodies, the song echoes in your head for long. Absorbed inspirations and creative sparks from those before, the nostalgic, mesmerizing soundscape pays tribute to the great musicians and songs.
“Troubled Soul” has a heartwarming aura in a collection of meaningful, moving moments during the journey of growth. A liberating, soulful guitar solo is one of the highlights of the song. “Troubled Soul” also features the artist’s 84-year-old granpa on the trumpet.
“ I had Roy Harper’s album Stormcock on repeat a few years ago and I found myself playing around the same vocal melodies which is where the song took inspiration. Originally it was much darker but I made an early demo and all the light just poured from the track,” the artist commented.
Jim Jam has a wide-span music career in the shadow of established artists, of which he honed his craft and developed his sound through years of experience and experiments with sound. Staying informed and inspired, the artists have a solid, yet more personal, creative approach when it comes to his own project.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: Nora Lilith “Daysof8”
Staff Pick
Photo credit: Kate Dannenmaier
“Daysof8” is a creative burst into the sky of a DIY era. The experimental pop artist, singer-songwriter, and producer Nora Lilith has brought to us another daredevil’s entrancing, hyper-imaginative single, “Daysof8,” the title track of Lilith’s upcoming album. Symbolism in combination with storytelling and experimentation, “Daysof8” is out-of-the-world, challenging everything you know identities, genders, and art.
From the name to its underlying meaning, “Daysof8” encompasses sophisticated designs and captivating thoughts, ideas, images. A spinning coin, a half-revealed maze, evocate storytelling. The song slowly escalates into a lo-fi experimental pop soundscape with a hint of exotic indication.
8 days represents the days one is able to hold love energetically, while the number 8 has a vertical resemblance of an infinity symbol. The song dives deep into true love and duality in its sonics. “To me, true love is an act of extending oneself for the sake of another’s growth. This act is infinite- infinitely doable and experientially infinite. It also makes me think of symbols of duality and balance, like yin/yang, an interplay between two forces that are fluid and symbiotic,” the artist commented.
Nora Lilith has a complex, flavorful blend of influences and ornamentations into her own sound, floating between continents, resonating with something beyond our existence. Beyond the inspirations and influences from jazz, R&B, house in an experimental pop texture, her unique magic remains authentic and natural to her own expression and aesthetics, which could not be imitated or reproduced.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: ANDREWW “IN MY HEAD”
Staff Pick
Photo credit: Nick Offord
“In My Head” is a dance in a slow-burn, angst-filled grunge movie. Hauntingly introspective but not self-indulgent. A conversation that digs even deeper into the consciousness that becomes a ritual channeling the “ghosts” within us into presence. Eerie but entrancing, the hypnotic guitar riff sends out a daring invitation to a fascinating expedition.
“‘In My Head’ is about challenging your ghosts, either you go to war with them or you accept them but there’s no denying they are there,” said Andreww, speaking about the deeper meaning.
Although the song is rooted in a rock n roll acoustic environment with an overall grunge aesthetic, it continues to swirl and expand to other territories throughout its course, traveling to an unexploited territory where different forms of art join hand into being one, where genres and styles don’t matter.
Stemming from his background as an international runway and fashion model, Andreww incorporates visual elements and a sense of hipness in motion into his musical vocabulary. Andreww goes beyond label or definition with original and fascinating ideas. The artist offers us a different perspective on music, innovating the current ground.
Written by Katrina Yang
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PREMIERE:ANATÉ “NONSENSE”
New Music Friday
photo credit: Max Guizzetti
“Nonsense” has a self-built subwoofer that allows the vibration to resonate in your body and soul. In a translucent, dark texture, the song produces a phenomenal soundscape. Butterfly-like echoing vocal flatters into the air, scattering into glistening little pieces. “Nonsense” is epic.
The alchemy between singer Ana and producer Andrea creates a fascinating, natural phenomenon that perfectly emphasizes each other’s personalities and characteristics. Andrea’s production is deep and soul-reaching, while Ana’s voice has a compelling sophisticated, sensational texture. The two interacts and communicates on a spiritual level, becoming the wondrous sonics we hear.
Like its name suggests, “Nonsense” revolves around the absurdity of life. Instead of constantly questioning and searching for explanations or answers, it adapts a free-spirited, liberating, in-the-moment attitude. As opposed to a non-thinker, simplified approach to life, the seriousness in its sound communicates more. Through experience and understanding of life’s randomness, absurdity, and misfortune, one realizes that within everything is nothing and within nothing is everything. The question is the answer itself.
“Nonsense” is a teaser and a sneak peek into the duo’s high-anticipated upcoming debut album Confessions, which can only be assumed to be high-quality and brilliant judging from what we hear today.
Written by Katrina Yang
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PREMIERE: TUVAL “MIND IS FOR REAL”
New Music Friday
Photo credit: Saugaat Gurung
Indirectly inspired by the artist’s personal journey recovering from addiction, “Mind is For Real” is a slow-burn, psychedelic encounter that takes you on an exotic adventure. Angst-filled, introspective lyricism combined with a sense of fuzziness, reaching to the edge of what’s real and what’s not.
“Mind is For Real” is a tune hard to define by any genre. It puts the traditionally anticipated grunge, psychedelic, or dream pop into new content. It floats in its own space, creating and communicating with a new language.
There’s no control over where the journey of awakening will take you. Tuval unintentionally touches on an ancient, spiritual realm rooted in Eastern culture and beyond. Fascinating ornaments come into the melody with unexpected colors and gests. “Mind is For Real” has way past the border of definition.
The London-based artist/multi-instrumentalist/producer/songwriter Tuval has been active in the music scene for quite a while with a handful of EPs and singles. The productive artist is never tied down to one experience, continuing to expand his color palettes.
Written by Katrina Yang
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PREMIERE: WAITWHAT ”DRIVES ME WILD”
New Music Friday
In a crystal, dreamy texture, the swirling piano brings a sense of dizziness to a dazzling neon-scape. Celestial ringing vibrates and resonates with your bones. “Drives Me Wild” comes into your vision, perfect and irresistible.
Akacia’s voice is the one we’ve all been waiting for. The near illusional perfect image has suddenly filled the world with color and music. “Drives Me Wild” is about finding the one person who could lighten the world.
The poetic lyricism is deeply touching and romantic. It speaks the mind of every person who shared a similar experience and has the rest fantasizing.
“You’re the only reason why, everybody thinks I lied, but you’re my supernatural smile.”
“My life was black and white, and it got colored with every moment, the day you walked into my life.”
Ironically, waitwhat has been through the same process in finding the right vocalist. The beat was originally composed in 2017, but the song wasn’t finished till recently. This delay in the release has led them to accidentally finding the perfect girl for their music, Akacia, who finalized “Drives Me Wild” with a magical touch, bringing life to an ethereal, radiant world.
Written by Katrina Yang
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PREMIERE: MOLOSSER “Ellesmere Island”
New Music Friday
Appear Album Cover
Entrancing and haunting, “Ellesmere Island” draws you into a melancholy, folk soundscape of a cold, mysterious land. Downtuned guitar intertwine with an intimate vocal, creating a unique sense of storytelling that encompass more than what meets the eyes. Minimal percussion adds the perfect rhythmic engagement into the sound. Where the dark meets the light, where the story begins.
Although the track has a dominating folk, blues influence in its soundscape, there is a strong rock n roll spirit presence imprinted in its soul, communicating through the cathartic choruses and mesmerizing guitar rhymes.
“Ellesmere Island” is the final track on Molosser’s debut album Appear which was released earlier this year. In the music video, the duo brings you into a cabin in the wild, to the rivers and the forest where the tales begin.
Hailing from Sweden, Molosser is known for its captivating storytelling and mesmerizing guitars. There’s a sense of mystery, danger, and darkness in its storytelling. In its folkloric melodies, they evoke ancients feelings long-forgotten in history.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: ALBA ROSE “EVE”
Song of the Day
Photo Credit: Maria Memet
Being heavily involved in the underground music scene in New Zealand, the upcoming singer-songwriter/producer Alba Rose is bringing us a sneak peek of what can only be put as a fruitful music journey. The artist’s unique background in jazz, neo-soul genre, and live performance has brought a very solid, laid-back lounge vibe to this recording.
Alba Rose is not lacking stories. The unworded undercurrent is what made up for the unique flavor and soulfulness in her voice. There is something beautiful and liberating imprinted in the sound of “Eve” The song narrates around the theme of letting go and trust in the background of the ocean shore at sunset. A ballet dancer improvises to the sonics, bringing visual, live elements into this art project.
The laid-back, loungy vibe brings you to a corner cafe, having a meaningful conversation with friends or yourself. The live set also offers an interactive experience for the listeners to follow and submerge themselves into the wonderfulness.
Indie-pop meets neo-soul in a natural, subtle way. The influences brought up by the musicians are rooted in experience and history. “Eve” is a song you could listen to forever.
Written by Katrina Yang
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ALBUM REVIEW: BODY DRAMA “OUT OF MY WAY”
Discovery
Body Drama has a thematic approach to a sexy, dark-pop sound environment, centering the storytelling in its main vocal line. Out of My Way has a sensitive, low-spirited, dreamful texture that gently grows in you—an album for a quiet time that you won’t be able to forget after listening.
“Sick Crack” is nostalgic. It reminds you of sunset in an urban environment by the ocean. A sad, dreamful Lana Del Ray aesthetic with a laid-back drumbeat in the slow twirling disco light, warm and glistening. Revolving around a captivating theme, “Sick Crack” is haunting and unforgettable.
“Never Learn A Lesson” is a tender, immersive long song. In its ocean-like dreamscape, angelic whispers float into your ear. The sweet voice comes closer and tells a story about the heart and the soul. In its resounding drone, the song draws you into its own space and time.
“Heat Haze” has more movement in the arrangement of fractures with buzzing bass and low strings where the floating voice leads to a lighter, silky soundscape. Epic percussion evokes feelings you didn’t know were there—a buzz right under your nose, dancing and chasing you like a fairy.
Written by Katrina Yang
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ALBUM REVIEW: AT SWIM ‘SE18’
Album of the Week
SE18 gives you the same feeling as watching a film from beginning to end, witnessing the story evolve from the first scene of where everything happened. In the neighborhood and street filled with memories. Everything that made up to the memories weave into what is standing today in a vague, distant sound.
Revisiting the conversations, fragments of words among feelings, At Swim pays homage to the place they grew up in. The dreamscape of guitar and fretless bass travels back where the time has stopped.
The album captured the essence of a frozen screen where everything is preserved in a jar. The unique urban sound environment creates a transparent, luminous feeling with obscurity and warmth. The album stands as an imaginary world of its own.
SE18 has a cinematic side in its soundscape as well as reflective and non-descriptive. It creates the perfect space for a story to take place on its own through imagination with the right amount of direction for it to be cohesive.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: PEKKY SAVAN “GLAD I FOUND YOU”
Discovery
Photo credit: Julia Cox
Pekky Savan has surprised us with a love song “Glad I Found You,” a derivative from her usual style as a sad song princess. The journey of finding love isn’t always easy. Sometimes situation-ship and extended single status create an illusion of fear that we are unworthy of love and that we may never find someone.
“Glad I Found You” sends an affirmation about self-worthiness and love, reminding you of the sparkles and magic during a down time. It might happen when you least expected. “
Glad I Found You” encourages you to have hope. Simple, captivating songwriting blossoming in its naked color. Setting its mood in an intimate, dreamful acoustic environment, “Glad I Found You” has a bubbly aura around itself that brings smiles to your face.
It was exactly what happened to Pekky Savan. After bouncing from situation-ship to situation-ship, the artist was about the give up when she met the person she was looking for during lockdown, the time and place where she’d least expect.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: ECHO COAST “SYMPHONY OF SOUND”
Discovery
“Symphony of Sound” has the breath of life in its sound. Inspired by the ebbs and flows living on the South Coast of England when lockdown finally came to an end, the song has a positive outlook on life with a bitter tone underneath. Stretching into history, memory, and atmosphere with raw, witty lyricism, “Symphony of Sound” has a poetic approach to the surrounding stories and sounds.
Echo Coast is a creative project of singer songwriter James Hobbs. The artist experiments around influences and the expansion of its color palettes on the song, surprises you with interesting twists and turns at every corner. The visual composes of footages with warmth and witness, resonating with the vibe.
Revolving around the downs and misfortunes in life, the song is off to an electric, rock n roll start. “When this world is breaking your heart, when you don’t know where to start. You got a stone in your shoe, and the light don’t follow you.” Although the lyrics might not be so bright, the contrasting musical elements is an ironic touch that light up the mood.
It goes to a bridge with a periodic pause and asks you a simple question, if nothing ever changes, and everything’s the same, what’s the point of life? Before it jumps into a vibrant symphonic chorus. Instead of defining the answer, the artist offered a gateway for individual interpretation.
Written by Katrina Yang
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ALBUM REVIEW: PETER SPACEY ‘SPACEY BEATS 4 SCRATCH VOL. 2’
Staff Pick
Photo credit: Gaya Photos, Yarden Rokach
For the past decades, Peter Spacey has been exploring the creative art of the turntable. In collaboration of visual component of performance art and creative installation, Spacey Beats is an interactive experience that comes from the versatility of forms. Vol.2 creates an intensified sensual and visual presentation in its sole sonic collection.
Its solidified, invasive nature instantly draws you into a world where extensive jazz chordal vocabulary meets a strong hip hop, synthwave influences. Spacey’s mastery of the turntable has translated into an expressive, creative language, which approaches the fine line between electronic and acoustic and the natural occurrence of music as a powerful expression.
Dark undertone, heavy bass, and an urban buzz. The album has sense of hipness with the purity and captivity that comes from a minimalistic, fragmented, sequential ideation. Each and every song has a very defined, articulated texture filled with vast variety of ideas and sounds. Slight microtonal ideas come in from time to time adding a fascinating color.
Based in Tel Aviv, Peter Spacey is an artist, beatmaker, and producer. Spacey Beats is placed as a soundtrack heavily in the film, commercial, and gaming industry and accompanies international major events. He also teaches the master class “Turntablism & Creative DJing” at Rimon School of Music, a branch of Berklee in Israel.
Written by Katrina Yang
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EP REVIEW: WERWE ‘SPEED OF LIGHT’
Staff Pick
Referencing without it sounding forced and out of place itself is an art that many thrive to master. Tapping into remembrance and recreating something meaningful and in the present make up the essence of Speed of Light by Werwe. A genuine, heartfelt collection of songs that would trigger memories from those dusted corners while remaining in conversation with the modern world of sound.
Hypnotic, surreal, and dreamful, yet each and every song tells a story with different colors. Diving deep into the underworld and finding its way back, the album is a journey of fire and ice. Inspired by the artist’s journey of overcoming fear projected by the last generation, the album opener, “Otherside” pulls you into a distant, surreal, dream pop soundscape with new wave influences, resonating with the natural process of independence. Revolving around a dark, evocative bass groove with blazing 80s references, the title track “Speed of Light” revealed a contemporary approach in its transition.
The intensified “House” has a minimalistic approach to its haunting lyricism, reflecting the way our birth family influence us every step of the way. Buzzing emotional power with raging distortion, a distant scream blends into its vague, burning background. “Heaven” stars into a dancing fire, introspective. High strings up in the air with short captivating bass pattern underneath an intimate yet emotionally distant vocal line. A steady, minimal, walking drumbeat carries out the motion forward.
“Gasoline” has an out-of-the-world bizarreness in its melody filled with minors, resolved in a reverberant, ghost-like chorus “I won’t scream.” A Red Hot Chili Pepper guitar plucking sounded like something but couldn’t ring a bell. Then we arrive by the warm, campfire with “Summer Lady” firing through a subwoofer, submerged into a spiritual, resonating world of “Livin Easy” with love and peace.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: SUG DANIELS “SPACE & TIME”
Song of the Day
Photo credit: Danielle Johnson
“Space & Time” has something bittersweet to offer. In a lighthearted Americana acoustic environment, Sug Daniels calls for the final salvage of a deep connection between two people. Inspired by the artist's personal experience, “Space & Time” consists of complex feelings and emotions. Daniels’s voice is where the stories are. There was so much more in the music and voice itself than what meets the eyes.
Addressing the problems takes more than walking away, but sometimes, what we need might be a time and space to breathe. Letting it go and letting it be, it’s always easy to say than do. “Space & Time” was written from a unique perspective with the charismatic lo-fi sound mixed in its soundscape.
“They say your body feels the shift first, then your heart, and inevitably your mind. It’s the last resort in trying to salvage any kind of friendship with someone you’ve spent years devoting your life to romantically. Here we address the elephant in the room and decide to give up control in order to save a beautiful connection between two souls. Sometimes, floating above an issue and zooming out allows you to see it more clearly. Someone has to say it,” said Daniels.
Growing up in the rural town of Smyrna, Delaware, Sug Daniels shared the collective experience of isolation and extreme joy many LGBTQ+ people felt in Southern Baptist-style churches. The artist continued her creative journey vocalizing love and shared experiences inspired by personal and collective stories after coming out.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: NICK CATOIRE “SEE YOU AGAIN (IVY STATES REMIX)”
Discovery
From the original strip-down piano version, the heartfelt “See You Again,” inspired by Nick Catoire’s first queer romance experience has shown potential. The song has gone through a wonderful creative journey throughout the time and now the collaboration with Ivy States has again brought “See You Again” one step further with an electric dance rendition.
“When I first heard Nick's striking vocals, I was immediately transported to a nightclub with neon-laser-lights suspended in a cloud of smoke,” States commented, “At that point, I made it my mission to fill that room with the funky bassline, sparkling guitars, and disco drums I knew belonged there.”
States rendition has brought out a blazing, contrasting color palette to the original song with hipness in its vibrant, kaleidoscopic swirling ideas and transitions. Tuning up the hook with interesting twists and turns, Catoire’s original melodic ideas shine bright and in power.
In support of Pride, the NYC based-based rising artist and queer singer/songwriter, Nick Catoire, has teamed up with fabulous outlets and venues to host a series of events. “To shine a light on the past and future of queer representation in music,” said Catoire.
Written by Katrina Yang
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