Track Of The Day: Kee Avil – ‘HHHH’ (Live)

A cell-tingling, evocative soundscape that caresses the senses, Montréal-based experimental artist and producer Vicky Mettler aka Kee Avil has shared visuals for her single ‘HHHH’.

Taken from her debut album Crease, which she released earlier this year, the live video (captured at Sala Rossa as a co-presentation between Live in Concrete and Suoni TV) shows the artist doing what she does best. Full of breathy vocals, ambiguous lyrics and twitchy electronics, the intensity of Kee Avil’s ‘HHHH’ is heightened by Myriam Bleau’s beautiful visual backdrops and Caro Etchart’s delicately crafted crochet costumes, both of which can be observed in the live recording.

“Playing ‘HHHH’ live is a bit like being submerged by waves, vibrations,” Kee Avil explains. “The swells engulf me and I always struggle a bit to hear myself within that, it makes me feel like I’m being kept from the surface, like I have to carve my way out somehow, and I like that. This video presents for the first time the duo version of the live show, with Samuel Gougoux on drums. We’ve been working on this duo setup since January, pulling it apart and discovering how to play this music live, or at least one way of many. The visuals by Myriam Bleau tie it all in, we were interested in exploring physical textures – like wax, paint, leather – to accentuate and create a small world for each song to exist in.”

Kee Avil is currently performing her captivating live show on tour in Europe, full details of which can be found beneath the video for ‘HHHH’ below.

Kee Avil European 2022 Live Dates
04 Nov 2022 – Bologna, IT @Circolo Dev
05 Nov 2022 – Ljubljana, SI @Galerija SKUC
06 Nov 2022 – Bratislava, SK @T3 – means of culture
07 Nov 2022 – Prague, CZ @Punctum
08 Nov 2022 – Krakow, PL @Klub RE
09 Nov 2022 – Warsaw, PL @Chmury
10 Nov 2022 – Dresden, DE @Scheune Blechschloss
11 Nov 2022 – Bremen, DE @Kultur in Buunker e.V.
13 Nov 2022 – Utrecht, NL @Le Guess Who?
18 Nov 2022 – Porto, PT @Understage

Follow Kee Avil on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Miss Grit – ‘Follow The Cyborg’

A glitchy, altruistic exploration of autonomy and purpose, New York-based, Korean-American musician Margaret Sohn aka Miss Grit has shared their latest single, ‘Follow The Cyborg’. The title track from their upcoming debut album, which is set for release on 24th February 2023 via Mute Records, Sohn’s latest offering is another experimental blend of electrifying riffs and crystalline synths that question what it means to be human in these disconnected times, featuring percussion from Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa.

As a mixed-race, non-binary artist, Sohn has always used their art in order to explore, connect with, and understand their own identity further. Their self-released 2021 EP, Impostor, addressed a “life-long journey through racial impostor syndrome,” whilst their Talk Talk EP tackled the complexities of relationships. On previous single ‘Like You’ and with their new offering ‘Follow The Cyborg’, Sohn continues to dismantle their identity from a different angle, this time through “the path of a non-human machine, as it moves from its helpless origin to awareness and liberation.”

Intrigued by the complexities of android life, Sohn’s upcoming full length record was heavily inspired by films such as Her, Ex Machina, and Ghost in the Shell, as well as essays by Jia Tolentino (from Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion) and Donna Horroway’s A Cyborg Manifesto. ‘Follow The Cyborg’ also appears on the album twice, performed in English as well as in Korean (‘사이보그를 따라와’), which is Miss Grit’s second language.

Their new single is accompanied by a beautiful cinematic video, directed by Curry Sicong Tian and starring Miss Grit. “I wanted to place my body in the cyber world, allowing the different variations of my ghost to move about freely,” Sohn explains. “I wanted to look a little freakish, unrecognizable to myself to avoid my instinctive filtration.”

Watch the video for ‘Follow The Cyborg’ below.

Pre-order Follow The Cyborg the debut album from Miss Grit here

Follow Miss Grit on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Hoseon Sohn

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Dronningen – ‘Superstardom’

London-based Italians, Beatrice Bonnano (vocals/guitar) and Vito Cerasia (lead guitar), formed Dronningen (meaning Queen in Norwegian) in 2014 and have been gigging on the London scene for a number of years. They’ve released three EPs thus far and in a live setting originally possessed a grunge-inspired rock vibe with pop undertones. Having re-jigged their band line-up they have metamorphosed into an electro-tinged rock beast – their live set-up now streamlined to a three-piece with beloved session drummer, Alberto Voglino. 

Their new single takes off like a rocket, as per the opening line, and is a super-charged anthem of drone attack buzzy guitars and synth bass rhythms the size of a cruise liner. ‘Superstardom’ kicks up a gear as the kaleidoscopic chorus bursts into the room, riding high on a bed of warm layered vocals. This lot aren’t taking any prisoners. Is this rock, pop or dance music? Who cares when it sounds this fresh!  

Discussing their new single, the band explain: “‘Superstardom’ is a song about fighting self-sabotage… It’s about reaching a flourishing state after working towards fulfilling your goals, without inhibitions. We feel this song is highly relatable to many in a society where you’re made to feel like you’re never good enough. Ultimately, our message is this: just focus on doing your thing and do it well for yourself, filter out all the background noise and pressure”.

Starved of performing live during lockdown, the band were afforded a moment of clarity and space to invest in creativity. They took to writing new material and Vito grappled with self-teaching himself video production, which bore fruit in the shape of the technical wizardry that is the music clip for January’s ‘Theatrical Love’ single. 

On the recent Italian election win of Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party, Beatrice and Vito voice their concern: “We hope that the victory of politicians who won the general election by stoking hatred and using inflammatory rhetoric will not be interpreted by some as a free pass to attack minorities or whoever they think is the enemy. There can be no going back over hard-won rights, such as abortion, same-sex unions and basic support for asylum seekers. Nobody wants to live in a Margaret Atwood novel. We deeply love our home country so we hope for the best.” 

Speaking of subjects which the band have far more control over, they confide: “Our plan for next year is releasing more music, more live shows and, most importantly, we have a debut album on the horizon”. As the band say: “Your life is now. Your time to thrive is now”.


Dronningen will be headlining The Victoria in Dalston, London on Saturday, 12th November – free tickets are available on Dice. Hear more from Dronningen on their Bandcamp page.

Mandy Bang
@mandybang

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Track Of The Day: Weekend Recovery – ‘Chemtrails’

Weekend Recovery’s latest track, ‘Chemtrails‘, is a direct response to the rampant spread of misinformation, both on unregulated social channels and in the mainstream news media. From start to finish, the song captures the emotional journey of watching dangerous lies spread through your community. It takes the frustration and annoyance of that experience, and condenses it into a few minutes of unbelievably catchy music.

‘Chemtrails’ hits heavy from the start, with fuzzy guitars, throbbing drums and lyrics delivered in a way that aches with feeling driving them. By titling the track, the band have created a clever metaphor that bleeds into its structure – it takes a conspiracy theory popularised by tools spreading misinformation, and uses it to critique those exact tools. It’s a fun parallel that shows the group’s skills when it comes to crafting lyrics with depth, nuance and sharp commentary.

The lyrics strike that delicate balance between being relatable, while still capturing a specific moment. A huge proportion of the people listening to this song will know the exhaustion of hearing another tired cover of Freebird at an open mic; it wouldn’t surprise me if the band (perhaps each member individually) and every one of those listeners will have the face in mind of a specific bland performer who finally tipped the scales and made Freebird unlistenable for them. These words are fuelled by vocals soaked with feeling – there is an initial aggression to them that captures the rage you feel seeing people legitimise dangerous lies. They relax into an almost spoken section heavy with sarcasm that is cathartic to hear. These are bookended by upbeat, bouncy lines that let you fall back into the space where, if nothing else, you have to laugh at the situation. The strings ramp up to the climatic finish to wrap all those emotions into a powerful scream, which swiftly drops back into the bouncy vocals before it implodes like your mental health after too much time in the wrong corner of Twitter.

In ‘Chemtrails’, Weekend Recovery have captured the nuanced anguish of being caught in a constant untrustworthy news cycle, and made it catchy as hell at the same time.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

Photo Credit: Keira Anee Photography

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