MUSIC

Opāru Premieres Video for "Ghost To Follow"

Future-electro with dark ethereal undertones.

Opāru

Morningstar Sargenti

Los Angeles-based dark dream-pop artist Opāru introduces the music video for "Ghost To Follow."

Opāru, aka Dianna St. Hilaire, who borrowed her name from the Japanese term for the opal birthstone, explains the song, "You are so strong and wise and powerful but you live in the shadow of who you really are so that people around you will accept you. You're so afraid that if you break through to your true beauty that you will lose those around you."


Opāru- Ghost To Follow (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)youtu.be


Directed by Morningstar Sargenti, the video depicts a kind of watery dance against the stark vastness of the desert, as Opāru's haunting tones narrate her longing for liberation.

"I watch the world go by / For you / I'll be your ghost / And I still wake up alone."

Follow Opāru Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify

MUSIC

Grimes' New Song Connects Assault on Women and Assault on the Earth

The single, "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth," comes in two forms.

Grimes

Grimes has finally released the first single from her forthcoming album, Miss Anthropocene, due February 2020.

The single, "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth," comes in two forms: a six-minute "Art Mix" and a four-minute "Algorithm Mix," the latter more radio-ready, the former more expansive and dreamlike.

In March 2019, she told Pitchforkthat her next album, Miss Anthropocene, was going to be "a concept album about the anthropomorphic goddess of climate Change." Each song, she said, would be "a different embodiment of human extinction as depicted through a Pop star Demonology."

NME.com

It's not exactly clear what form of apocalypse "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth" describes, though it does appear to be about some kind of assault. "Oh, silly love," she sings. "Coming here / when I say go." Back in April, she told The Faderthat the song is about "when a dude comes inside you, you become in their thrall—how it's an attack on your feminist freedom."

Below all the layers of synth and abstraction, it does seem like the single is critiquing patriarchal abuse of women. In light of her description of the album's overall theme, it could also be a critique of mankind's aggression towards the Earth.

These two impulses—man's impulse to dominate women and humankind's insistence on dominating the planet—are, in some ways, quite related. They're also connected (though certainly not equivalent) to white people's habit of colonizing, enslaving, and dominating the rest of the planet, and on capitalism's insistence on building up a select few on top of the bodies of others.

Humans, particularly those in positions of power, have always dominated others, at terrible costs, in order to maintain their status. Today, that tendency threatens to destroy the world. Perhaps, by connecting various forms of oppression and embodying Earth's and humanity's growing frustration with them, Grimes is tapping into a truly revolutionary sentiment. Time will tell if it's enough to cut through the haze.

Grimes - So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth (Visualizer)www.youtube.com

New Releases

Heron Offers a Delicate Spiderweb of Sound on 'Splashdown'

Spectral gestures amid an ethereal soundscape.

Photo Courtesy Heron

Pennsylvania's instrumental, alt-rock outfit, Heron, will officially release a new single, "Splashdown," March 22. You can listen to it today on Popdust.

Saturated with superior production, the track was recorded at GCR Audio, in Buffalo, NY. It was produced by Justin Rose, mixed by Matt Bayles at Red Room in Seattle, and mastered by Frank Arkwright in London, at Abbey Road Studios.

Heron burst onto the scene in 2017, with their debut release You Are Here Now, a collection of emotionally haunting tracks reminiscent of Sigur Ros melded with Pink Floyd. The album earned praise from NPR, along with formidable streaming numbers on Spotify. "Splashdown" offers a sneak preview of Heron's forthcoming second LP, as yet untitled, slated to drop in the near future.



Made up of Benjamin Blick (guitar), Nathaniel Blick (drums), Boyd Lewis (guitar), and Eric Morelli (bass), Heron's music encompasses unique textures and mysterious colors forming effortless soundscapes.

"Splashdown" opens on resonant guitars, gleaming and lingering, as if waiting for encouragement. Inspiration arrives, as the harmonics gently swell, adding measured percussion and an austere bass line. Deep, vibrant synths bathe the tune in echoing breadth. As the washes of colors intensify, the soundscape attains an ethereal beauty both immediate and transcendent.

Rife with rippling sensations, "Splashdown" is simultaneously intense and subdued, scattering a mandala of translucent sounds across a mystical tableau.

Follow Heron Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram


Randy Radic is a Left Coast author and writer. Author of numerous true crime books written under the pen-name of John Lee Brook. Former music contributor at Huff Post.


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PREMIERE | Delerium & JES Release Music Video, 'Stay'

Like the Sirens of Greek mythology, JES mesmerizes with her voice

Photo Courtesy JES & Delerium

Canada's electronic musical duo, Delerium, hooked up with New York City's EDM diva, JES. The collaboration resulted in a dazzling new music video, called "Stay."

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