Will Scott, K.O.besha, and The Pierce Kingans
Will Scott
PAINTINGS // Mangled Tapes
You lay on your back and cross your feet on the dock. The marsh glimmers in the sunset, the bulrush rustle in the wind. A water nymph skims across the surface of the water. A benign beginning.
This is the feeling in the first few moments of Will Scott’s album PAINTINGS, but then, out of nowhere, like some good over-the-counter salvia, a deconstruction ensues.
The somewhat placid atmosphere transitions into truly strange and unsettling territory, immersing the listener into a fractious complexity. Minimalist experimentalism engulfs and entrances, simple sounds combine and hypnotize across an expanse of some unsettled subconscious.
Across the surface of strange terrain you’ll go, patterns emerging like keys to undiscovered portals in some(one’s) malfunctioning matrix.
Then, as is the case with that aforementioned salvia, you return to your body, legs still crossed- albeit a bit sunburned- on the dock.
- JD Ormond
K.O.besha
YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPOGANDA // Self Released
The last year has undoubtedly set creative boundaries for a lot of people, and with those constraints it can be hard to feel or find inspiration. However inauspicious some moments may feel, there is always a light to be uncovered. Right now, Victoria based artist K.O.besha and her self-released debut album titled YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPOGANDA are illuminating the way for those of us feeling flat. I first heard this album shortly after it’s deliverance on March 22nd and it’s been a constant in my headphones ever since. This project is both inspiring and completely satiating, filled with fresh ideas that are executed passionately and flawlessly. K.O.besha expresses that this project was “created out of the frustration and personal revelations I’ve had over the past year”. In collaboration with the masterful Canadian producer Banana Boy, and featuring upcoming Canadian artists MUSAU-MULENDA, sub.modernexits, and Mooky; K.O.besha has sent forward what is easily one of the best albums of the year among young Canadian musicians.
Rooted in her early love of artists like The Fugees and Reddy Amisi, and drawing inspiration from other black creatives such as SZA, Kehlani and Syd; K.O.besha’s Alternative RnB sound is lush with poetically alluring lyrics and cool, entrancing beats. YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPOGANDA has it’s own atmosphere, the gravity of each track pulling you in, immediately feeling like the soundtrack to whatever you’re doing in the moment. Not only is Banana Boy’s production on this album exquisite, but the soft and velvety vocal melodies and harmonies are addicting. Songs like “Don’t Lie”, “Cash Rules” and “Log Off” carry heavier lyrical content melodically delivered over slow, hypnotic synth and percussion. Alternately, the songwriting behind tracks like “Don’t Hit My Line / love u harder” feels like a carnival of sounds - a bouncing synth-based track that cuts so smoothly into a percussion dominated beat reminiscent of Frank Ocean’s “Crack Rock”. My favourite track on the album, “Crush’t” focuses on the obstacles of connecting with and understanding another person. This song comes rolling in with a powerful bass drum and quickly transforms into a bumping partnership between a bass line, open hi-hat and clapping triplets. This song hits hard and seems to fill the room with energy wherever I play it. In a final curve of the mood, the closing song “track 10” conveys perfectly the emotions of moving forward in life, and missing those who might be distanced from us during these motions. The complex and multi-layered vocal track fervently pulls forward the same overwhelming emotions as the first time I listened to Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek”.
The songwriting, production, collaboration and attention to detail injected into this project has made YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPOGANDA a serious force in the world of new RnB and pop music. I would not be surprised to see K.O.besha breaking into a bigger spotlight and gaining some serious attention with this release. Make sure to keep your ears sharp for her next project while we blast this one through the rest of summer 2021.
- LG
The Pierce Kingans
Pierceful Protest // Boat Dreams From the Hill
Pierce Kingan is a pop-fetishist's dream come true, a relentlessly prolific auteur who consistently delivers pristine gems of perfect, pretty pop, full of delightful, Beatlesque harmonies and tight, inventive arrangements.
He’s put out a positively obscene amount of music since leaving beloved Vancouver garage outfit The Prettys (I think this is something like his 9th EP since 2015), all of it superb, well crafted indie-pop that recalls the work of similar monolithic bedroom pop stalwarts such as Jason Faulkner, Brendon Benson and R Stevie Moore. I strongly recommend you check out his recent compilation Pierce and Love to all the World on Subjangle records to get a feel for the vast scope of his output. Pierceful Protest delivers more of the same oeuvre, continuing on with his core trio of Ian Browne and Zachary Martin on drums and keyboards, respectively. We’re also treated to another guest spot by Jordan Heaney, AKA Yung Heazy, a fellow bedroom pop dynamo and regular Pierce Kingans contributor. A regular theme in Pierce’s work is his unabashed romanticism, and this EP is full of that similar open-heartedness and vulnerability found across the spectrum of his work. It’s the kind of material that gives one real hope for the art of songcraft, and it's especially inspiring to see so many talented members of the Vancouver music community contributing to this spectacular run of EPs.
If black diamond level songcraft that recalls the best jangly output of the 60’s onward is your jam, I strongly urge you to delve deep into this newest release and the full Pierce Kingans back catalog. It’s an absolute treasure trove.
- Shaun Lee
