Wondering if the industry “secret” of Singer being a sexual predator is about to make headlines.

no, i think that’s just you.

ahhh, the lament for a simpler time. which you can always read as: back when women/queers/blacks/etc were put in their place, and the entitlement of the straight white male went unchallenged…

John Waters was the guitarist for INXS?

Melodrama special edition: instead of Lorde going to a party and then getting really sad she gets really sad and then goes to a party

Gabby doin’ the good work again.

Hey friends! It feels like it’s been a whike hope you guys had a great week! So this is really dumb self promotion so i’m sorry but I spent the last two or so months recording an album of songs i’ve had in my head for the past decade/several years/several months (depending on the song. It’s my attempt at a lofi pop record about all my fears and anxieties about life and love and being queer abd trans.

I have an essay which accompanies it, which i will paste below, but if listening to it is something you would be interested in, i just wanted to share it with the stereogum universe. Feel free to tell me what you think. If you think it’s shit, you can tell me I promise I can take it.

Here is the link. You can also find my artist page on facebook if you are so inclined.

https://wrendovelark.bandcamp.com/album/reconciliation

❤️ Bless

The essay with background info:

I’m really nervous to finally be sharing this, but I’ve finally released my new project “Reconciliation” into the universe.

I have been writing songs and playing them on my keyboard in the solace of my home for the better part of 12 years, but I never thought releasing an album would be something I would do, even though I’ve occasionally let myself entertain the fantasy of being a pop star several times in my imagination.

This project was set into motion this year when the band PWR BTTM was supposed to release their new album this year. As an AMAB nonbinary femme, it really excited me to see a band with people who looked like me in it gaining the clout they were gaining. But my heart was absolutely crushed when sexual assault allegations were brought against their lead singer and I couldn’t bring myself to be excited for them or listen to their music any longer. I was feeling really depressed about it for a while, when of all things, I was watching one of The Needle Drop’s op-ed videos about the PWR BTTM story. He had encouraged the watchers of his video by saying something to the effect of that the fall of this band doesn’t necessarily mean this wave of queer music has to end. He also encouraged his viewers to create the music that they wish had been available for them when they needed it. Fantano can occasionally be problematic (can’t we all?), but I’ve frequently consumed and enjoyed his content over the past few years, even though many times I completely disagree with his reviews. But what he said in that video really resonated with me, and I really appreciate him for it. That set me on the path to record “Reconciliation.” So I bought a rock band microphone from goodwill and a cheap casio synth keyboard and opened GarageBand and tried to make it happen.

Basically I have a lifetime of feelings that I needed to process. I feel like I’m at a crossroads in my life, and I want to feel freed from a lot of this shit that is still lingering in my head. Literally these songs encompass events and emotions that I’ve felt since like 5 years old. Some of these lyrics I wrote in middle school. Some I wrote over the past few weeks. These lyrics and song ideas have floated in my head incessantly for so much of my life. I imagine for many punk singers these feelings they need to get out are like large walls of aggressive sounds, but for me they feel more like catchy, repetitive lulls that get stuck in my head. A lot of these lyrics are about things that conjure up very negative feelings of like anxiety or trauma or sadness, and so because they are so sticky it feels like I constantly relive them. Thus, I wanted to record them so that maybe I can feel free from them and prepare myself for this next phase of my life which I am both overwhelmed by and super excited for. I feel so optimistic, and I don’t want to feel weighed down by the past anymore. The album is for the most part chronological. The album up through “The Ravine” is about reconciling the past, and then I tried to end the album with a three song coda where I hype myself up for the possibilities of the future (while reconciling my inherent fear of the risks that come with going after them).

So that was the motivation. For the inspirations for the sound, I was basically inspired by the story of Prince’s abandoned album, “Camille,” and the idea of using pitch shifted vocals to play with gender in music. Because my voice is something that I’ve always felt dysphoric about, pitch shifting my voice up has always been a way to make myself feel more comfortable with it. Imperfections from the low quality microphone also add a scratchy, crackly, vulnerable feel to the vocals that become especially apparent when pitched up. All my favorite artists served as inspiration for this record. From the country and folk (especially John Denver, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Shania Twain, and Dixie Chicks) I was exposed to as a kid, to the pop punk and emo that was my sanctuary in middle school (nevershoutnever!, Blink 182, Dashboard Confessional, and My Chemical Romance), to the female pop singers that helped me discover my own femininity in high school (Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Charli XCX, Lorde, and Carly Rae Jepsen), to the indie (Bjork, Perfume Genius, GLOSS, Sufjan Stevens, Grimes, SOPHIE, (SANDY) Alex G, Katie Dey, Arca, and Frank Ocean) and hip hop (Kanye West, Young Thug, Future, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Migos, Drake, and Lil Uzi Vert) that has shaped me in the years since. I don’t know if all of them will come through to everyone when they hear the album, but I can point to specific lyrics or instrumental parts or just general characteristics and aesthetics of the music that each of these artists have influenced.

I don’t know if this music will reach an audience beyond my personal friends. Some of the songs are inspired by real life interactions I’ve had with people I’m still friends with. I hope if they listen and recognize something in the songs, they realize I sang about them out of love and respect and with nothing but the best intentions.

However, recently I have come to learn the power of my own story and my own experiences. My perception of the world is valid, and can be understood independently of the perceptions of those who I interact with. Just because I may see and understand the world differently from others, doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Well… maybe in some cases it does, but I don’t feel like these songs touch on any of those. And if they do maybe I just need more introspection.

Recording this project has been a little all-consuming. My house is a wreck right now bc I’ve spent all my free time recording and I’ve neglected cleaning up after myself. But for my mental health I think it has been worth it. I’ve listened to each of these songs several dozen times, and I really enjoy them, independent on however anyone else is going to perceive them. If someone else gets something out of them that will make me happy too.

And whenever I feel I have something I need to say again, I’ll just make another album/mixtape/playlist/whatever they’re being called these days.

Enjoy.

Is there a conceivable universe where Beyonce is just the tiniest bit overrated? Asking for a friend (bloc).

My manpinion that no one asked for is that she has every right to object to this, but also that the festival’s intentions were good and she probably could have expressed her objection more diplomatically.

when your woke genderfluid festival lineup announcement doesn’t adhere exactly to the Byzantine coded language and communication diktats of one member of the intended audience.

peak 2017

(ps. I am very in favour of advocating/raising awareness for these issues. But this shit is ridiculous and demeans everybody involved)

The cultural left NEED to shift the focus off policing language/communication, its reached absurd levels of Kafkaesque fuckery.

Your allies are not your enemies just because they made a faux pax.

Educate them politely and move on to dealing with the very real issues that face you on a daily basis.

worst band of the decade.

Part of this is good, part of this plays right into the narrative that refuses to frame this issue as a predominantly male problem. PWR BTTM is a prime example of this. It doesn’t matter what pronouns someone uses or how “woke” they think they are, born male will exhibit male behaviors and male violence. This usage of women/femmes perpetrates the idea that you can identify your way out of oppressor status which is ludicrous. But good job on including potential abusers into the pool of potential victims.

Fuck off, Dansolo.

Nah…Sufjan is truly too much of a dweeb to have anything scandalous attached to him. The only story involving him that I’m waiting for is the announcement of a new Sisyphus album.

Also: why did this get downvoted so much? You lot have to be the biggest congregation of pussies on the entire internet.

Maybe I’m alone in this, but is anyone else just waiting for a big Sufjan “story” to break? I honestly have enjoyed his music (christian rock album notwithstanding) but man, I juat get such a creepy cult leader vibe from this dude.

I really hope that Ryan inserts the “fidget spinning Uber driver” aside into every one of these “____ Reviews 2017” interviews (which have been a trip!)