Begonia, Kue Varo, and Future Star
Begonia
The Fear Tour (Live) // Rex Baby Records / Birthday Cake
Begonia’s first live album: The Fear Tour (Live) begins with a MC welcoming Begonia to the stage over the noise of an excited crowd: “In her 5th sold out show... the official diva of Winnipeg… Begonia!”. Just prior to the pandemic, Begonia was beginning the second leg of a North American tour in support of her 2019 album Fear. The album spent 10 consecutive weeks at number 1 on the national Earshot radio charts, was on numerous year end lists (including Cups N Cakes) and was long-listed for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. In February 2020, Begonia returned to Winnipeg for a string of sold out homecoming shows. She first announced two hometown shows which quickly sold out, before announcing another show, and then another show, and then finally a fifth show due to overwhelming demand. The stretch of 5 sold out shows at the WECC in Winnipeg is quite the feat, but should not come as a surprise once you listen to this live album that features selected recordings from those five special nights.
The setlist finds Begonia and her talented band focusing on music from Fear and 2017 EP Lady In Mind. Begonia’s humorous and off-the-cuff stage banter is charming and the addition of two background singers help to further elevate the vocals on this album to a gospel choir-like quality, especially on the chill-inducing opener: “The Other Side”. Her voice shines throughout the live album - most notably during set-highlight “Fear” where she unleashes primal screams that sound as if she is performing an exorcism on herself. While it is thrilling to hear Begonia harness power during the emotional peaks of songs, her impressive vocal control is also to be celebrated on her more restrained tracks. The thoughtful setlist places “Every Day”, “Cold Fire”, and “Mirror Talk” just prior to “Fear”. Those three consecutive tracks find Begonia singing in conversational, jazzy tones - dancing in and out of falsetto and winking through her voice in a style reminiscent of Erykah Badu.
Begonia often dresses in bright, playful clothes, and her dynamic stage presence means you likely won’t be able to take your eyes off of her when she performs. Her mix of stank faces, wrist flicks and the kick of her platform boots emphasize the striking lyrics peppered throughout this album. Thankfully this live album is accompanied by a well-produced concert film. This visual addition is a special treat which will leave you longing for the return of live music - the return of those shows where you get to witness a star blowing up… those shows that you can toss in your back pocket and later pull out when you want to brag to your friends: “I saw them when…”
The fact that these were some of her last shows before the pandemic put a halt to touring is not to be lost on the listener either. Begonia and her band sound incredibly tight and polished - leaving one to wonder what could have happened had Begonia been able to continue to take this live show on the road for the remainder of 2020. In the meantime, Begonia has hinted that she is working on a new album, released a Fear b-side “Bus” and also shared artful music videos for two Fear album tracks (“Fear” and “The Other Side”).
Begonia celebrated with her fans as they watched the premiere of the live concert film together on December 31, 2020 - culminating a year that was initially expected to go much differently. But due to her resilient attitude and consistently top-notch releases, it is evident that Begonia and her fans have much to look forward to regardless of what the future throws their way.
- Greg Torwalt
Kue Varo
Daffodil-11 // Independent
Kue Varo is the solo project of Montreal-based Katrina Spreen, and offers a pop star vehicle for their playful, introspective, and at times raw exploration of persona, gender, and personal expression. On debut album Daffodil-11, Spreen has created a shimmering collection of psychedelic dream pop songs, anchored by strong, Cat Power-esque vocals, and thoughtful, honest lyricism.
The album’s title is a reference to the 1976 Kurt Vonnegut novel Slapstick, and an important signpost for understanding Spreen’s creative perspective on this album. Via Vonnegut’s signature brand of absurdism, the novel critiqued the ways in which people have become isolated, individually and on a wider societal scale, by siloed modern familial structures. The plot of Slapstick features a government-sponsored plan to combat loneliness by artificially recreating the extended family; by assigning all citizens a middle name consisting of a random object and number (such as Daffodil-11), those who share names become part of an instant extended family, and therefore are responsible for each other. The idea that it’s not too late for common decency, or for chosen family, is a big part of Spreen’s message on this album — that things can be better if we ask for what we need, are willing to be honest with each other, and embrace the small human commonalities that bind us.
Of course, all of that is easier said than done, so Spreen is starting from a place of tremendous vulnerability. This openness shines through on Daffodil-11 from the outset with “Breakdown”, which fades in gradually, as if we are catching Spreen in the thick of something (“Let me tell you about the day I broke down, I laughed so hard my tonsils bled”). It cuts out quite suddenly, and as the album moves into the steamy calypso-beat march of follow-up track “No”, you quickly get the sense that Spreen is ready to establish new personal boundaries and leave behind some bullshit.
At 7 tracks across 25 minutes and 37 seconds, this album is by most definitions just barely past EP-length; however there is plenty of sonic variety and explorative texture within these tracks to offer listeners something new to appreciate with each spin. The languid “Dreaming” is carried along by a trembling reverb-soaked Twin Peaks bassline, before the album switches to a shuffling indie pop jangle on “Just Don’t Lie.” The psychedelic synths and layered vocals that drape over “Fully Clothed” create a swirling fever dream; when the delerium breaks and moves into the easy tropical bop of “Animals”, Spreen unleashes a melodic lupine howl, targeted at the artificiality and inhumanity of our social media facades.
The album closes with the forward-looking “Garden”, a rolling verdant fantasy that leaves the listener with a bit of hope, and the promise that by carefully tending to something today, even as hunger gnaws at your insides, what grows means that you might enjoy better nourishment in the future. With such a solid debut effort, that optimism should extend to the artist as well, and mark Kue Varo as a project worth paying attention to.
- Julie Maier
Future Star
When Will The DJ Of Luv Grant Me My 1 Request / Kingfisher Bluez
There is a particular comfort that bedroom pop is able to cultivate around its sound: oftentimes this kind of musical work is soft, tender, intimate, and playful. In a sense, bedroom pop is what happens when you have a lot of feels and a midi keyboard to shove them into. An apt example of this is When Will the DJ of Luv Grant Me My 1 Request by Future Star, a Victoria-based pop artist who has brought together many bedroom compositions over the years and who now delights us with a debut full-length record. The record brings together a collection of stories about heartbreak, break ups, loneliness, and trying to get by around the fortunes that the DJ of love casts upon you.
Across the board, Future Star’s sound always comes back to a stripped down instrumental of electronic keys and drums with its main driving force being the vocal and lyrical side of the project. The record tells a story of moving through the different stages of grief following up a relationship. The first two tracks, “I’m Gonna Be Fine” and “I’m So Alone” get to the point of these songs being a space to process and put things into perspective, especially as life takes its turns. One song seamlessly leads to the next as the first frames the whole record and then the follow-up let’s itself sit in the feeling itself and actually delivers a song about being so alone. With the stage being set, the break up in mind comes to the fore in “It’s Hard to Let Go of You” and “Sorry” as the two songs set up a back and forth between wanting someone to pay attention to you and deliberately avoiding someone. And the emptiness in between these moments gets explored in “Fill Me Up” as these songs come to take on that space, as “The Simplicity” and “X-Ray Spex” break down. At this point in the record, Future Star re-introduces “Kiss the Mirror” which was the single for the record and which got an excellent remix by DEVOURS who captivated the dreamier aspects of Future Star’s sound - this track is one of the catchiest in the whole record. The image it delivers about personal love gets played up by many lyrical delights like: “i'll kiss the mirror / it's kind of cold but she's the only one here / i wanna swipe right on me.” This track is followed by “DJ of Luv” which explores many of these themes that came up in “Kiss the Mirror” by getting to the point where the hand that dealer had dealt has been rejected - this appropriately followed up with another single for the record, “Card of Judgment” playing on the kind of recurrent tarot reading you want to prove wrong. “Duck Song,” by contrast, takes more of a passive perspective about wanting to be comforted but also from an arm’s length distance. “Bonus Song” takes this sentiment and places it in a scenario where you get to watch other people get that comfort just as you crave for it. “Tell a Story” wraps up the whole record expressing the importance of sharing these different vignettes and scenes for others, while also making a hopeful space for something new.
This is probably one of the most narrative records I’ve had the pleasure to review. While instrumentally, Future Star sticks to her guns; it is the lyrical and narrative element that really shines - and that’s the thing about bedroom pop, it can be as stripped-down and lo-fi as it comes but these songs still make space for something intimate they care for. With brief catchy songs and the kind of stories that keep one up in nights of solitude, Future Star’s debut record is an exciting release that echoes the early work of acts like Frankie Cosmos and Florist - with this songwriting groundwork, Future Star is unstoppable.
- Simone A. Medina Polo
