Art has an unbelievable ability to transform a house into a home that represents your tastes and style. Choosing the right piece of artwork for your space, be that portraits, minimalism or abstract art prints, is a personal, fun and creative experience that allows you to show off your interests and the ambience you want to create in your home. These can be added in many forms, including paintings, prints and photography. One approach that can be taken when decorating your walls with art is selecting pieces that follow a theme. Themed art can be captivating while complimenting your home decor and your style. Let’s take a look at the steps that can be followed to ensure you choose the correct themed artwork to resonate with not only your home but your personality, too.
Reflection Stage
There will be an overwhelming amount of looks and styles to choose from when incorporating themed art. At this stage, it would be sensible to reflect on what colours you enjoy, what emotions you wish to portray and how the size and appearance of each piece can alter how your rooms look and feel. It is important to consider the following questions.
What style is your home decor at the moment? Do you have a traditional, minimalistic, vintage or modern chic vibe?
Do you currently have any existing themes throughout the home with other decorative pieces? If yes, how can you tie this in with the artwork you choose?
What emotions and moods do you want yourself and others to feel when entering the property?
What colours currently dominate the interior of your home? Is it neutral, cool, warm or vibrant?
Understanding your home characteristics and knowing how to create an ambience you feel comfortable in will serve as a strong foundation for selecting themed artwork to resonate with the space it will be in.
Define Your Theme
Now that we have assessed our homes and have a better understanding of what will work best in specific places, we can define the theme we want to follow. These themes can range from genres like abstract, landscape, portraits, photography and typography to broader subjects and concepts, including nature, travel or cultural influences. Here are a few ideas that you could use in your next room:
Nature – Use the likes of botanical prints, seascapes, animal photography and wildlife paintings to bring a room to life.
Vintage – Source retro-themed prints from vintage stores to take your home back to your favourite era.
Abstract – Stimulate your imagination and incorporate abstract paintings; non-representational art can add a new feel to your room.
Travel – Tune into your adventurous side with city-themed prints, showcasing the incredible places you have travelled whilst adding a few photos of your favourite memories, too.
Research & Explore
With this new theme in mind, you can now begin another fun process of researching sizes, styles and artists you want to use and represent in your home. This will allow you to curate a collection of pieces that spark joy and that you keep forever. Here are a few ways you can conduct this research.
Local Art Galleries
An excellent way to discover talented artists local to your area is by visiting galleries close by. Galleries, art fairs and exhibitions allow you to engage with the art community and lead to fun and meaningful finds to showcase in your home.
Online Marketplaces
The internet will be your treasure trove for finding artists and artwork from around the world. Using online marketplaces opens up the opportunity to find themed artwork in various styles and price ranges.
Social Media
Online platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest are great for discovering local and up-and-coming artists who produce unique work that deserves recognition. Following specific artists on these platforms allows you to be the first to know when they have new pieces available in collections that align with the theme you have selected. It is also a fantastic source to use if you wish to join in with art communities and speak to like-minded people who are passionate about art, too.
Art Auctions
If you have a larger budget that you wish to use wisely, attend art auctions around the country. These places will hold more exclusive, one-of-a-kind pieces for you to buy and add to your growing collection. Events like this will most likely feature themed artwork, and you could potentially find some rare and limited-edition pieces that suit your home.
Assessing Artwork
Once you know the pieces you want to add to your home that align with your chosen theme, it’s time to assess what you have found carefully. It is important to consider the following:
Size & Scale
The size of your designs in relation to the space you are planning on hanging them is incredibly important. A large, bold piece in a tiny space may look a little overcrowded; however, if you plan to put a large landscape on a large wall as a statement, this will give the desired effect. If your collection features multiple smaller pieces, you may wish to use these to create a feature gallery wall.
Medium & Style
Look at and evaluate the different styles and mediums you have. These mediums, including oil paintings, photography and watercolour, all convey varying textures and create differing atmospheres. Your chosen medium and styles should align with the theme you have chosen as well as with your home decor.
Aesthetic Appeal
When you look at your selection of artwork, does this resonate with you on an emotional level? How do you feel when you look at it for a longer period of time? Does it evoke the desired mood you had in mind for your home? Ensure that you are genuinely able to appreciate the aesthetics of each piece you purchase.
Framing & Matting
The framing of artwork can significantly impact the overall presentation and vibe each one gives to the room. Choosing a frame and matting that aligns and compliments the artwork to enhance its visual appeal will benefit the vibe it adds to your home.
Personal Connection
Lastly, trust your instincts and choose artwork that makes you feel something and resonates with you on a personal level. Art should be more than just a piece of decor to add to your home; it should make you feel emotions, spark conversations and inspire. If you have a personal connection to a piece of themed artwork in your home, it will only enhance the positive way you feel when in your home.
In conclusion, selecting themed artwork for your home is an exciting journey of self-expression and creativity that you can put lots of time and care into. Reflecting on the personality of your home, defining themes you appreciate and researching, exploring and assessing artwork carefully all result in you selecting art for your home that you feel personally connected to. Start your home transformation today and bring rooms to life with colour, emotion and theme!
There is an alarming increase in cases of mental health disorders, and dementia is one of the most common ones. Dementia affects over 10 million people every year, causing loss of cognitive functions, including memory, communication, and reasoning. With no successful traditional treatments for this disease, alternative therapies are now being explored.
Cannabis has gained a lot of attention in this sector and has been shown to help manage symptoms relating to dementia. In this article, we are going to share all the things that are essential to know when treating dementia with cannabis.
Cannabis can Help People with Neurological Disorders
Natural elements present in marijuana have been demonstrated to replicate or improve elements present in the human body. Because they are derived from the plant Cannabis Sativa, these substances are known as “cannabinoids.”
Currently, there are more than 100 cannabinoids known. THC and CBD are the two most widely used. Cannabis contains THC, which is what gives some users a “high” feeling. The hallucinatory effects of THC have been demonstrated to be lessened by CBD.
THCA hemp flower, which contains THCA, an alternative for THC, is now gaining popularity as it doesn’t contain psychoactive properties like THC, yet offers a unique perspective in dementia management.
70% of Americans use cannabis to feel relief, pain-free and relaxed. Harnessing the therapeutic properties of cannabinoids like THC and CBD under medical supervision not only offers potential relief from neurological disorders but also highlights the importance of responsible and regulated cannabis use in achieving optimal health outcomes.
6 Strains of Cannabis that Help with Dementia
As alternative meds are being explored more, it has been found that there are multiple cannabis strains that can help with dementia, here are our top 6 picks that are the most efficient.
1. Platinum Girl Scout Cookies
This is a 60/40, Indica-dominant combination that has slightly more CBD than THC to keep the high manageable while maintaining strong effects. The euphoria-inducing PGSC is a delectable berry-candy breed developed to help you more effectively manage your mental and physical symptoms.
It helps to assist with relaxation, reducing pain, elevating your mood, and reducing anxiety. It was created by breeding Durban Poison, OG Kush, and a “mystery” strain thought to be Cherry Pie.
2. Orange Cookies
Orange Cookies is a fruity and sweet hybrid of Girl Scout Cookies and Orange Juice that contains a large quantity of three sweet terpenes that are also present in marijuana.
Caryophyllene, a cannabinoid that also works to relieve pain by binding to CB2 receptors.
Linalool, which is calming.
Limonene, which has been demonstrated to aid in symptoms of depression.
Terpenes and cannabinoids can complement one other’s health advantages, according to science. This stimulating, invigorating, yet calming strain is excellent for individuals who struggle with anxiety, despair, tremors, and muscle rigidity. THC content in orange cookies is 18%.
3. Deadhead OG
The two classic “landrace” types, San Fernando Valley OG Kush and Chemdawg 91 were combined to create this highly potent THC strain. This balanced 60/40, Sativa-dominant hybrid is supposed to quiet the mind and calm the body while producing a wonderful feeling because it contains more than 25% THC.
It is advised to improve sleep, lessen physical discomfort, and calm tension, stress, and anxiety. Deadhead OG has a lemon-pine flavor and a potent, powerful aroma.
4. Blissful Wizard
Another cannabis variety that helps reduce tension in dementia patients is Blissful Wizard. It is strongly encouraged that people start low and progress slowly when using Blissful Wizard because this hybrid strain is frequently high in THC, at 30–34% at times. After consuming this strain, you will be feeling ecstatic and energized.
Blissful Wizard also has advantages for preventing plaque accumulation in the brain, reducing inflammation, and preventing appetite loss and nausea.
5. The Ox
The Ox is a strain of cannabis that is extremely high in CBD. While CBD doesn’t get you as high as THC does, it does cure inflammation, which is important for slowing the onset of dementia.
The Ox is a great option for elderly dementia patients since it has a substantial quantity of THC, which also gives it pain-relieving effects and a mild high.
6. Lavender
A popular indica cannabis variety for unwinding is lavender. The terpene linalool, which is utilized in essential oils for its relaxing effects, is present in both the cannabis strain lavender as well as the herb lavender.
Consumers of lavender strains can anticipate experiencing a stress-relieving, mood-lifting high as well. Due to its medium-to-high THC level, lavender also has the ability to relieve discomfort, which is crucial in assisting dementia patients in feeling satisfied and at ease.
Things You Should Consider Before Using Cannabis for Dementia
If you are considering consuming cannabis to help with dementia symptoms, there are a number of important factors that you should take into consideration.
1. Legal Status
The use of cannabis is regulated and has different laws in different countries. So before you start using, make sure what the law says regarding cannabis in your location and if you require any authorization to avoid any legal consequences.
2. Medical Supervision
Consumption of cannabis comes with multiple side effects. So if you are a dementia patient, make sure you are using cannabis under medical supervision. Each patient is different, so it is essential to understand how cannabis will affect you. By assessing your health conditions, medications, and lifestyle, your doctor can assess if cannabis consumption would be safe for you.
3. Dosage and Cannabis Strain
Which strain of cannabis you consume and its dosage is extremely important when it comes to managing dementia symptoms. You can opt for CBD dominant strains or THCA hemp flowers, as these are much safer options compared to THC.
4. Risks and Side Effects
Cannabis can have a lot of side effects, including mood fluctuations, dizziness, sedation, etc. It is important to be aware of the risks and side effects associated before you consume.
Conclusion
For a while now, medical cannabis has been a hot topic. Cannabis has shown promising results in treating dementia symptoms. However, since this is still undergoing research, it is essential that you maintain precautions and check with your healthcare professional before you try it out.
La Force is the solo project of Canadian singer-songwriter Ariel Engle, who was born in Montreal and came up in the indie scene of the city’s Mile End neighborhoood, collaborating with everyone from Plants and Animals and the guitarist Sam Shalabi. With her husband, Broken Social Scene’s Andrew Whiteman, she would eventually form the duo AroarA, and made her studio debut on Broken Social Scene’s 2017 LP Hug of Thunder. In 2018, she released her self-titled debut album as La Force, which was longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. In between making appearances on the most recent records by Big Red Machine and Patrick Watson, Engle worked on her sophomore full-length, XO SKELETON, which came out on Friday – just months after her latest album as part of ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT, her collaboration with Godspeed You! Black Emperor founder Efrim Manuel Menuck. Co-produced with Warren Spicer, XO SKELETON is a gorgeously contemplative record that’s haunted by the weight and complexity of its subject matter – death, memory, planetary orbits – but steadies its gaze on the ordinary: “People, animals, plants / Do what they do today/ And again tomorrow,” she sings on ‘october’. As much as she fixates on symbols of the intangible, Engle’s music gives shape to the forces that animate and cycle through our lives, the stuff that’s always felt but hard to wrap your mind and body around.
We caught up with La Force for the latest edition of our Artist Spotlight series to talk about her upbringing, recording XO SKELETON at home, how planets work, and more.
You were born in Montreal, but you lived in China, Scotland, and Indonesia as a child. What was your relationship with your hometown like growing up?
My parents are not Canadian, and they’re English teachers. My father’s first language is Hebrew. So there’s a sense in which home and belonging is something that, for me anyway, was about the family and about whenever we were together. It wasn’t location-specific so much as a state of being. I’m from a mixed religion, mixed culture family, and my parents had a real wanderlust, so we would, with very little warning – I remember we moved to China two weeks after I heard about it. We moved from one culture, Quebec, you know, very open, to quite communist China, where we lived in a secluded, walled-in city in Beijing where all the foreigners live so the still Communist regime would not have its population be too influenced by the West. The gift of this – first of all, I was always in incredible safety, this is a very safe way to experience this kind of disorientation, and I also knew that we would always go home. What it gave me, though, was a very early ability to understand that I’m not the center. That my experience is a subjective experience, but it is as powerful as everyone else. I think that when I see a lack of that awareness in people – when they feel that kind of solipsistic quality where they think that everything’s about them or if they close their eyes the world disappears – first I’m annoyed at them, and then after I feel like they’re really missing out. There’s a way in which it’s really valuable to feel like you’re not the center, because then it allows you to see. I don’t think you can really see if it’s always about you.
Was music one of the things that brought you together as a family?
Music was so big in my childhood. My mom worked in a vinyl store when I was a little girl, so she would bring home vinyl. I remember growing up, they had these vinyl bookshelves built, and it was just a foreboding amount of vinyl. My parents listened to music constantly and took us to concerts constantly. They were passionate about it. I remember a very early sense memory is the smell of the speaker; they would have maybe Aretha Franklin playing, and I would put my ear to where the comb behind foam is, trying as much as possible to get inside of the music. I think that’s probably what influences my quasi-obsession with the relationship between the body and music. This record is really so much about the body.
What made you want to dive into it more with XO SKELETON?
I think that maybe the difference between this record and my last record is that it’s more focused in its statement. I think that these themes existed before and will likely be things I continue to explore. Sometimes someone has a theme, and it could be a visual theme, and they just need to work on it a lot. I’m very feeling-driven over reason-driven. I can’t read music, I don’t understand the fretboard, I’m unschooled. It’s kind of a drag, but I’ve just never taken the time to learn.
You recorded the album in the house where you grew up. What implications did this have for you, emotionally or otherwise?
Well, the house is kind of like an exoskeleton, in the way that exoskeleton is a house for the softness – organs – a house is a container for relationships and a life. And it’s a very personal record. It afforded me time, I didn’t have the pressure of going into the studio, feeling the clock ticking. A lot of my songs are not finished when I try to record them, so it was much better. In some ways maybe I didn’t work as fast and as hard because I was home, because I’m, like, doing laundry and starting a soup and then going back down. But it fit the time. I’m not saying I would always do it like that by any means – I would love to go somewhere for a month with a couple of musicians, by a river or something. But this is what it was, and I feel like it worked for this.
Is it harder for that reason to talk about the timeline of the record, or the moment where it seemed to take a life of its own?
Mostly because I have really bad memory. You know, we fetishize speed. Everything has to be fast, and I don’t think I made this record fast. But I would argue I’ve been making my next record from the moment I stopped making this one, in the sense that, whether or not you know it, you’re always collecting fragments, thoughts, inspiration which will show up. Making a record feels there’s a moment when the egg has been fertilized, and then it gestates a bit, and then it comes out. You have a vague sense – for me, it was XO SKELETON, I had a few names going – it’s very awkward, it can barely walk. You have lots of crises like, What am I making? Why do I even do this? It’s not too late, I could become a therapist. For me, there’s always a moment of massive self-doubt. And then I’ll wake up one morning and my baby record can walk. And then it says a few words and I go, Oh, I kind of like his voice. And then it starts to show me who it is, and then it’s a teenager and it gives me a fucking attitude. It’s like a real relationship – I know it sounds precious, but I don’t think that’s specific to me. I think that self-doubt is a key moment towards completion.
Suddenly you realize this thing that’s been very private for you, that you cannot imagine anyone will ever hear, no one will ever judge, no one will ever want – it’s just yours, it’s free of being processed or metabolized by anyone, it’s free of commerce, it’s free of competition. It’s just in its purest form, seemingly. And then you start to feel almost finished, and then you have to let it go. It’s almost like you need to express all the fear that you might have about it, and at the end, my feeling is always like: Is my record perfect? No. This is what happened. This record is a testament to a time. This is what I was able to do with my friend Warren, who worked with me very hard. Good, I’m happy, next – and not be clinging, clinging, clinging till we die.
What was the attitude this record was giving you?
Sometimes my fight is like, “Oh, that’s so conventional, you’re weirder than that.” I’ll give myself that kind of hard time. There’s that side of me that wants to be rawer, puncher, and then there’s another side of me that wants to deliver something easier to retain, that someone could sing along, remember a part. It’s those kinds of struggles where it’s like, “Ugh, you’re boring.” You know what it is, just these little fights with self. And then I think, “Why don’t I make a record that pleases that teenager in me next time?” I think I am – I’m making plans for a quick-and-dirty, lo-fi EP with my current band.
On ‘october’, you sing, “I can’t seem to remember/ What’s most elemental/ Like our circumnavigation of the sun/ You tell me, I keep it for 24 hours/ That’s all I got/ That’s what my memory’s become.” I wonder if songwriting, for you, plays any role in this digging of memory.
It’s so much about memory. ‘october is very much about memory. I’m looking in the mirror and feeling like I’m being seen by some on the other side who’s no longer alive, and that feeling is more that I’ve internalized their gaze; specifically my father in this case. It’s that feeling of wanting to continue to please someone or have them be proud of you, but they’re not there to see me even try. But it has shaped your expectation of yourself. I’m very much interested in how memory shapes me now. And I think that thing about how the planets work was one of these strange things – it does bother me, I’m always like, “Which way is the sunset? Which way does the sun rise?” I’m always sort of disoriented on this point. It’s so concrete, and yet it’s so magical and celestial. It’s almost like the facts of it don’t even make sense anyway, because the fact that we live in a ball – you can explain the science to me till the cows come home, it still makes no sense to me. I mean, I’m not a flat earther, but it’s crazy that we live in a ball, surrounded by other ones, and we’re moving around one and others are moving around – like, What? In infinity? And that we come from an infinity, and we return to an infinity? And somehow we go around in our lives as though this is normal? It’s not normal. It’s totally [at odds] with how seemingly rational we try to be all the time. It’s like an existential – there should be a word for that, because that’s not a word, but like an existential mind-melt.
The word that comes to mind is “disbelief,” because you bring it up later on the album. Especially in revolving so much around loss and love and memory, I think the feeling that it can evoke – which can be positive or negative, existential or intimate – is disbelief. It also seems like the kind of state you’re often writing from.
Yeah, it’s kind of like a purgatory; the idea that I’m sort of waiting to believe in something concrete. Like, am I allowed to believe in the things I would like to believe in? Are those things real, are they true? In the same way that I can’t understand planetary movements, but my life is also made up of a lot of mundane stuff, like folding laundry – “memories folded like laundry.” This is something I know, that I do everyday. It’s going from a very lofty concept to something very banal, which is the day-to-day. I’m not really into tooting my own horn, but I will say, the thing I’m most proud of on this record is some of the lyrics. I believe that what I’m saying is true to me. I’m not wearing anyone else’s cloak. This is real to me, and that was a nice feeling. I think that that could only have happened for me now in my life. I couldn’t have written these words when I was younger. I needed to have lived through the things I lived through to be able to speak in a way that resonates with me. I just feel like I’m being myself.
One of my favorite musical choices on the LP is the vocal processing on ‘ouroboros’, which really evokes that image of a snake eating its own tale. The lyrics are powerful in that song, but it’s more about how they work together with the production.
Yeah, that’s Warren Spicer. We really wrestled that snake. Some songs are harder to win than others; that song was very wrestled. I initially wrote that for this thing called Song a Day [an invitation-only songwriters’ circle organized by producer Phil Weinrobe] – I did three of them, I was very lucky. It was fast, like nursery rhyme, very upbeat. In a way, I’m split, because I feel like that would have been an amazing version, but we couldn’t get it to work. It got incredibly monotonous because I had so many things I wanted to say. And then he does this thing where that voice, it’s all me, the backups are all me, but what he does is, if he speeds it up and he records me, then when he brings it back to the right speed, I’m really low. It’s totally a snake, because it’s a relationship; the snake becomes a metaphor for family relationships, where you just can’t get off this cycles; sometimes you’re fighting with your family, and are you really fighting your fight, or are you fighting your father’s fight, are you fighting your grandfather’s fight? There’s this feeling of inherited shit, you know, this inherited pattern where you start standing in for another person.
On ‘empty sympathy’, you draw this connection between being loved and being seen, and loving the past to see what’s in front of you. How does looking back on the emotions that defined XO Skeleton help ground you in the present?
Writing those songs really helped me get through something. Taking this internal world and giving it a shape that could live beyond me, that I could engage with or think through or share with other people, it frees me from some of the ouroboroses that are inside me. Although the ouroboros traditionally is a symbol of fertility and life and birth, I’m giving it a different significance. I’m making it more like a torture cycle. Who knows when I get there, but I have a feeling that what I’m going to do next is going to be maybe a little less personal. I feel like I don’t necessarily need to open my diary for this next record, I might be a bit more oblique. I feel like in this one, obviously some of it has a metaphorical bent to it, but I’m sharing, so to speak. It’s pretty open. except ‘outrun the sun’, that song is not at all about me – in fact, the lyrics are mostly my husband’s lyrics. It’s like an improvisation ad-lib, so it’s very different. It leads out.
How did it come about?
I recorded most of it at my friend Shahzad Ismaily’s studio in Brooklyn. My husband Andrew had just a synth progression that I really liked, and then I brought it to Shahzad. He had a great drummer, Austin [Vaughn], who came and played on the session, and it’s very John Bonham-like, big drums with a beautiful reverb. And then I just opened the book – my husband had given me a bunch of free writing just to get the ball rolling. I read it as is, and that’s the recording. It was a blind read. I like that it caught me – I wasn’t the architect of the song. It was just kind of a combination of elements, and I was like, “Fuck, I like this, it’s punk. Keep it.” That satisfied the teenager in me that wants things to be rawer and more spontaneous.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
boygenius stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night (October 3) to perform ‘Cool About It’, a highlight from their debut LP the record. Watch it happen below.
Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus will release the rest, a new four-track EP, on October 13. Last month, they unveiled an animated video for ‘Cool About It’. After playing a headlining set at Madison Square Garden to a sold-out crowd on Monday, the group is set to perform at the Hollywood Bowl later this month for a special Halloween show.
Joanna Sternberg has released a new track, ‘Neighbors’. It marks the singer-songwriter’s first new music since the release of their Fat Possum debut, I’ve Got Me, back in June. Listen to it below.
“I wrote this song about my social anxiety and how it manifests in the context of the high rise building I live in,” Sternberg said in a statement, referring to the the middle-income artists-only residence in the towers of Manhattan Plaza where I’ve Got Me was written. “I often am unsure of so many social rules and social cues that I just wind up either shutting down completely, or acting like an over-friendly almost muppet-like version of a human. This song is definitely intended to be sort of tongue-in-cheek/silly (I am very inspired by Randy Newman!) I performed this song at my piano in my living room and my very multi-talented friend Chris Miller recorded and mastered it!”
Francis of Delirium, the project led by Luxembourg-based artist Jana Bahrich, has released a new single, ‘First Touch’. Catherine Marks produced the track, which follows July’s ‘Real Love’. Listen to it below.
“‘First Touch’ was a bit of a departure from our usual approach of writing with heavy electric guitar and drums,” Bahrich explained in a statement. “Instead, Chris [Hewett] and I decided to start experimenting with acoustic guitar and drums. During that time, I started listening to a lot of Sheryl Crow’s music, particularly her song ‘Soak Up the Sun,’ which became a source of inspiration for the song. I wanted ‘First Touch’ to have a kind of ‘sun-rock’ vibe. The core of ‘First Touch’ is about looking back at love with a sense of nostalgia and idealism. I wanted to capture the youthful feeling of being completely consumed by someone and believing everything would work out, even if that is naive. But, I also wanted to emphasize the beauty of that sentiment, the hope and trust that come with really believing in the authenticity of love.”
body / negative – the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Andy Schiaffino – has announced a new album, Everett. Following 2019’s Epoche and 2020’s Fragments, the LP is set to arrive on December 8 via Track Number Records. Listen to the lead single ‘persimmon’ below.
Midwife’s Madeline Johnston co-produced several tracks on the new project, which was mastered by Slowdive’s Simon Scott. Everett was initially set to be recorded in Midwife’s studio in New Mexico, but Schiaffino ended up recording most of it themselves after their father fell terminally ill and entered hospice care. The artist has dedicated the album in its entirety to their late mother and father.
“’Munitions’ was one of the first tracks I wrote for this album and sits at the beginning of the tracklisting,” Matthew Barnes explained in a press release. “It was written during a few bleak late winter nights in my studio I set up in a cold warehouse in Liverpool and set the tone for much of the album writing that followed it. The video directed with visual artist Sam Weihl captures some of the feel of those writing sessions: dimly lit, industrial, dreamlike.”
Bolted, the follow-up to 2017’s Compassion, arrives on October 20 via Ninja Tune.
After an energetic and hyper Day 1, particularly after the frenetic and lively sets by closers Carly Rae Jepsen and Maggie Rogers, my feet were a little tired coming into Day 2 of All Things Go 2023 at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Luckily, this day was filled with performers best known for songwriting and experimental instrumentals, lending the crowd to sway rather than jump up and down and expend energy. Singer-songwriters and talented vocalists performed on another sunny day in Columbia, Maryland, closing out a massively successful festival weekend.
Samia
Samia took the Chrysalis stage early in the day to sing her tracks about devastation, lust, yearning, and romance, enforcing her credibility as one of the most wrenching songwriters performing today. Opening with her anxious track ‘Pool’, she sang (relatably) about the terrors of everyday life: “How long do I have left with my dog ‘til I start forgetting shit?”, then transitioned into the satirical ‘Fit N Full’. I had seen Samia once before, and her energy and joy on stage remained the same while performing upbeat hits from her debut album The Baby. Some more tracks from her excellent Honey, released earlier this year, would have been great too, but the crowd singing along to the emotional lyrics from ‘Kill Her Freak Out’ (“I hope you marry the girl from your hometown, and I’ll fucking kill her, and I’ll fucking freakout”) and feel-good drunk anthem ‘Honey’ was more than enough to satisfy the Samia fans in the crowd.
Ethel Cain
I have a bone to pick with whomever did the scheduling for early Sunday afternoon, as Ethel Cain’s set started abruptly in the middle of Samia’s, the opening notes of ‘A House In Nebraska’ ringing out across the festival grounds like an ominous siren call. People legitimately ran to the main stage in order to hear her stomping hit ‘American Teenager’ and remained to hear more of the Floridian’s songs from her breakout album Preacher’s Daughter. Between the two, I had seen both before, and Samia is a more dynamic performer (only because of the genre of music she performs), so I stayed to hear her set play out. I caught the last half of Ethel Cain’s, which began with the powerful slowburn ‘Thoroughfare’, transitioned to the warm, gospel-like ‘Sun Bleached Flies’, and ended with the powerful and upbeat ‘Crush’.
Alex G
Credit: ALIVE
I had never listened to anything by Alex G before his setlist, so I was surprised, mesmerized, and allured by the indie rocker’s bizarre runtime. Playing 17 tracks, most of which from his 2022 record God Save the Animals, the musician used soundboards and a guitar to broadcast his experimental ideas. This was definitely filed under “Not sure what’s going on, but I like it!”
MUNA
Credit: ALIVE
Electrifying and liberating queer trio MUNA closed out the Chrysalis stage Sunday night, and as lead singer Katie Gavin put it, she thought of it as opening for Lana Del Rey, clearly an exciting notion. After adorning the festival as “Lesbo-palooza,” they performed a great mix of well-written and clever electropop, during which I was lucky enough to be right near the barricade. Other band members Jo Maskin and Naomi McPherson had the time of their lives performing songs from their three albums, mostly from their excellent self-titled 2022 record. Highlights included the pleasure-seeking ‘What I Want’, triumphant and caring “I Know A Place’, and new single ‘One That Got Away’. Before their feel-good country anthem ‘Kind of Girl’, they dedicated the number to all the trans people in the audience, a nod to the anti-queer legislation taking place in the country at the moment. Just performing as three queer people with an audience of mostly queer fans is a statement in and of itself. They closed the show with fan-favorite ‘Silk Chiffon’, bringing Arlo Parks onto the stage, who performed earlier in the evening, and it was hard to leave the set feeling incredible and like you belonged.
Lana Del Rey
Credit: ALIVE
With everyone gathering at the main stage at 9:30, the hills adorned with blankets and standing fans, it was hard to feel like something extraordinarily momentous wasn’t about to happen. A few minutes after her scheduled time, Lana Del Rey graced the stage in a gorgeous black gown, singing the title track from her best album, Norman Fucking Rockwell!. She performed a shortened version of it, along with ‘Arcadia’, ‘A&W’, and ‘The Grants’, owing to time, though her omission of the latter’s heavenly outro was a little disappointing. However, it can’t be said enough how incredible Lana sounded live, as she sang slower cuts like ‘Bartender’ and ‘Chemtrails Over the Country Club’ in the middle of graceful dancers. Though she kept thanking Baltimore for our presence (we were in Columbia), referencing the full moon we were under (it wasn’t), her actual set was mesmerizing, including well-known songs cut from each of her albums, save Honeymoon. At the halfway point, she brought out frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff to sing the lovely ode to his wife ‘Margaret’, then a shortened version of ‘Venice Bitch’, one of Lana’s best songs.
Afterwards, nervous that Merriweather would cut her off because she started early (they allegedly have a very strict curfew policy), she switched up the tracklist so that she’d be able to perform what she’d been saving for last. “Wanna sing ‘Video Games’ with me?” she asked the crowd, to an emphatic yes, and swinging on a flower-laden swing, she performed her song that started it all. ‘Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ came next, with an angelic outro that made the song a gratifying one to hear live. After a quick audience poll as to what they wanted to hear next, Lana performed the intense ‘Ultraviolence’ and ‘Born to Die’, before closing with the graceful ‘hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but i have it’ the outro during which she was dragged off-stage in a white hospital gown, feigning psychiatric evaluation (making sense with the Sylvia Plath and “sociopath” lyricism in the song). Odd art performance piece or not, Lana closed out the weekend the only way she knew how, and earlier in the night, she thanked the crowd for allowing her and her band to do so. “I hope you do too,” she urged the crowd, during her moving and legendary set, “as crazy as you wanna be.”
Mackenzie Scott is back with news of her next Torres album: what an enormous room lands on January 26 via Merge Records. The follow-up to 2021’s Thirstier is led by the new single ‘Collect’. “This song is about justice being served,” Scott explained in a statement. “The rage song I’ve been trying to write for years!” Check out director Dani Okon‘s video for it below, and scroll down for the album cover, tracklist, and Torres’ upcoming tour dates.
Scott produced what an enormous room with Sarah Jaffe. It was recorded at Stadium Heights Sound in Durham, North Carolina, and mastered by Heba Kadry. Julien Baker, in the LP’s official bio, writes: “What I can say about TORRES is I think the music comes from a convicted place. […] And I think it’s just incredibly good music to listen to.”
what an enormous room Cover Artwork:
what an enormous room Tracklist:
1. Happy Man’s Shoes
2. Life as We Don’t Know It
3. I Got the Fear
4. Wake to Flowers
5. Ugly Mystery
6. Collect
7. Artificial Limits
8. Jerk Into Joy
9. Forever Home
10. Songbird Forever
Torres 2024 Tour Dates:
Wed, Jan 17 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop *
Thu, Jan 18 – Chicago, IL – Venue TBA
Fri, Jan 19 – Columbus, OH – A&R Music Bar *
Sat, Jan 20 – Nashville, TN – The Basement *
Mon, Jan 22 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade (Purgatory) *
Tue, Jan 23 – Durham, NC – Motorco *
Wed, Jan 24 – Washington, DC – The Atlantis *
Thu, Jan 25 – Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry *
Fri, Jan 26 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere *
Sat, Jan 27 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
Fri, Feb 2 – Paris, FR – Le Hasard Ludique
Sat, Feb 3 – Bruges, BE – Cactus Club
Mon, Feb 5 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso Upstairs
Tue, Feb 6 – Cologne, DE – Bumann & SOHN
Wed, Feb 7 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub
Thu, Feb 8 – Munich, DE – Milla
Sat, Feb 10 – Baden, CH – One of a Million Festival
Mon, Feb 12 – Manchester, UK – YES
Tue, Feb 13 – Bristol, UK – Strange Brew
Wed, Feb 14 – London, UK – Oslo
Wed, Mar 20 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge ^
Fri, Mar 22 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court ^
Sat, Mar 23 – Boise, ID – Venue TBA
Tue, Mar 26 – Seattle, WA – Neumos ^
Wed, Mar 27 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios ^
Fri, Mar 29 – San Francisco, CA – Cafe Du Nord ^
Sat, Mar 30 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room ^
Mon, Apr 1 – San Diego, CA – Casbah ^
Tue, Apr 2 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar ^
Thu, Apr 4 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada ^
Fri, Apr 5 – Austin, TX – The Parish ^
Sat, Apr 6 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) ^