On Freaque‘s debut EP Decompose, Gabriel Roderick’s voice is mixed so that if you close your eyes, you might imagine that he is sitting right beside you. Say, on a porch swing just after dusk as bats swing low in the sky. You look over a wide expanse of field, and he gestures to things in […]
Red Lake Nation Students – “Stand Proud” Seventh-graders at Minnesota’s Red Lake Middle School promote truth, respect, and courage in “Stand Proud.” The Anishinaabe students yell “skoden,” a Native slang term derived from the phrase, “Let’s go, then.” Lena Elizabeth – “Nobody Wants You” Femmes deal with unwanted attention at the 331 Club in Lena […]
Lena Elizabeth – “Loaded Gun” Lena Elizabeth welcomes a camera into the studio while recording her new single “Loaded Gun.” The song isn’t a departure from her EP The Line, but it does feel like a strengthening and deepening; Lightnin’ Joe Peterson on the B3 organ adds a nice zing under Lena’s relatively cool vocals and Taylor Donskey’s […]
Charlie Parr, “Dog” Those who follow Charlie Parr know his album Dog echoes of depression, but also the bond between human and animals. Directed and edited by Dan Huiting, Parr’s story-driven video for the title track is set in Duluth, featuring cameos by several local dogs, the Aerial Lift Bridge, and Parr himself. Prof, “Criminal” Prof‘s […]
It’s easy enough to sound sweet. Beautiful voices grace an inventory of folk projects, especially those fronted by women; you’ll see adjectives like “dulcet” and “mellifluous” used to describe their voices, with sugar baked right into the words. But sweetness sounds best up against a snarl — some complexity and tension. Lena Elizabeth, part of […]
Happy Friday on this crisp, sunny day! If you’ve been following this feature throughout the past year, you’ll have seen a Pony Rug video pop up about every week or two. But this week, I wanted to highlight a whole stack of work from this series, which really seems to have come into its own lately. […]
Chastity Brown, “Whisper” Chastity Brown shares her song “Whisper,” from Silhouette of Sirens, accompanied by a sweet love story. She told Out that she envisioned the video as “a string of intimate moments that represent the beauty of queer love.” Lena Elizabeth, “Nobody Wants You (Live)” Lena Elizabeth is a wonder to watch. Strumming her baritone ukulele, […]
Shredders, “Cult 45” P.O.S, Sims, Lazerbeak, and Paper Tiger are Shredders, a new side project from the Doomtree quartet. Their self-titled EP includes “Cult 45,” which they pair with a goofy stunt in this video directed by Mercies May. As Lazerbeak puts it, “We basically threw a fake birthday party in my backyard for all of our […]