Local Music Singles Roundup: April 2022
Local Music Reviews
At SLUG, we know that ale you need is love—and music, of course! We’re here to raise the bar on our Beer Issue Local Music Singles Roundup. With six new lager-than-life singles to listen to, we’re sure at least one of them will make your heart malt. So don’t be a beer in the headlights and take this golden hop-portunity to relax, crack open a cold one and try these new tunes.
Angie Petty (ft. Omega Horns)
“Friends”
A Petty Music
Street: 02.18
Angie Petty = Gretchen Parlato + Raveena
Angie Petty’s new single, “Friends” featuring Omega Horns, is a delightful foray into jazz-inspired pop. She stays true to her roots with her trademark euphoric vocals and affinity for horns, but also experiments with an almost jazzercise-inspired pop flair. The track is a perfect addition to playlists looking for a bit of an optimistic, upbeat lift. It travels through different eras in its four-minute runtime, starting off slow, curving down a jazz-inspired road and taking a pit stop during the drawn-back bridge. The lyrics are a bit repetitive at times, but something about Petty’s voice makes them intoxicating. There’s a certain type of effortlessness that transpires through the track, which is interesting since one would assume a lot of thought has gone into the production. As I noted in my review of her debut album, this single shows room for improvement when it comes to lyricism, but it also further cements Petty’s ability to grow and experiment with genres. –Palak Jayswal
IMAGE/INTENT
“Solstice”
Self-Released
Street: 01.21
IMAGE/INTENT = Polaris + Frozen Crown + Thalia Bellazecca
With their new single, “Solstice,” IMAGE/INTENT are just showing off. They’re messing with me. Just when I think I have a starting point, the track quickly changes and takes me somewhere else. “Solstice” is an instrumental track that swirls genres around in a brilliant, guitar-driven storm—post-punk, prog and math rock mash-ups that attack and conquer like a Viking invasion. “Solstice” moves and advances with such precision that just when you think it might settle, it rebuilds for another onslaught. Soaring, progressive guitar runs bleed into metalcore riffs and back again. The drumming creates an undercurrent that the dual guitars sail on relentlessly. Brandon Shay (guitar), Brian Medeiros (drums) and Randy Beasterfield (bass, guitar) flat out murder this track. It isn’t fair. “Solstice” whips you around so quickly that they have moved on before you are able to properly process the moment. It’s a helter skelter thrill ride. You don’t need caffeine—just pull up this song and enjoy. –Russ Holsten
Josaleigh Pollett
“bad dreams”
Self-Released
Street: 02.04
Josaleigh Pollett = Julien Baker + Beach House
Josaleigh Pollett delivers “bad dreams” from the cold, wet consciousness of someone who lost their one place of comfort and rest. Pollett, who once found sleep to be a warm and shielded space from what they deal with during the day-to-day, now dreams of nightmarish and violent scenarios. The song tugs and grasps with the vocals crying, “I fall asleep quickly / I am fast to the place without pain / But these days it is dark in there, too.” While something so dark in text might leave you heaving, Pollett distracts with beautifully glossy vocals and instrumentals Similar to Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus’ boygenius EP. The aches and pain you feel manage to cling to you and stick, even after the tenth listen. It’s never a poor idea to sit and consume what a woman in pain has to say. –Jamie Christensen
Kipper Snack
“Kiss Me”
Self-Released
Street: 02.11
Kipper Snack = Boy Pablo + Still Woozy
This year’s romantic forecast has been predicted to be heavy in the feels, and Sean Mena of Kipper Snack is here to shower the city in love. “Kiss Me” opens with soft chimes, like entering in a rose-colored daydream. In the first verse, Mena is asking for reassurance if this pain in his heart is leading to a positive existence. The joyful drum beat rolls the song along while the steel guitar harmonizes itself in the background, adding those warm, blush tones that fill the cheeks. The chorus splashes in with a gentle demand to “Kiss me now!” Butterflies fill the stomach and a smile comes up, thinking of a lover leaning in close. Whether you’re curled up in the arms of a special someone or by yourself, the relatable lyrics in this hi-fi ballad will have everyone believing in love again. –Teddy Ray
lostboii
“FUCK ME UP (ft. lil ice & 37flacko)”
Self-Released
Street: 02.10
lostboii = Lil Tracy + Lil Peep
It’s a tale as old as time—you’re bottling up a torturous blend of heartache, growing pains and existential dread, straddling the thin line between a bender and a hangover. lostboii’s “FUCK ME UP” (with lil ice and 37flacko) swirls out of this physical and emotional tumult. Atop a sparkling emo guitar arpeggio, the three vocalists trade bouts of slurred raps, screamed refrains and cloud-rap croons. References to percs and coke segue into sing-songy pleas of “Tried to give you all my love / But you just want none of that,” piling up the ache into an unstable web of feelings run amok. As a total piece, the divergent vantage points of “FUCK ME UP” coalesce into an acknowledged contradiction—at once hurting and being hurt, caught in the hormonal whirlpool of early adulthood and searching for meaning through a path of self-desctruction and self-discovery. –Audrey Lockie
Marqueza
“Golden Hour”
Self-Released
Street: 02.18
Marqueza = Tirzah + Empress Of
Like the elusive glow of its titular reference, Marqueza’s self-produced “Golden Hour” offers shimmering bouts of ecstasy without ever exploding into complete radiance. The track constantly teeters on a precipice, its stuttering synths teasing a climax before slinking back down into milkiness. “Golden hour never lasts,” Marqueza sings in the track’s elusive refrain, bouncing across the instrumental’s head-bobbing drum beat in jittering melismas. After the halfway point, the track collapses entirely into a beat switch that resembles the sudden insularity of Frank Ocean’s “Nights” or “Pyramids.” Here, the previously fervent lament for a honeymoon phase’s quick dissipation reads more like nocturnal contemplation. The glow is gone, leaving only a silky memory of the once-great romance. Like that auburn, early-evening light, “Golden Hour”’s euphoria appears in glances and snatches, fading to new hues as quickly as a shadow shivers. –Audrey Lockie
Read Localized features with some of the artists featured in this month’s Local Music Singles Roundup:
Localized: Angie Petty
Virtualized: Josaleigh Pollett
Localized: Marqueza