Nilüfer Yanya has released a cover of PJ Harvey’s ‘Rid Of Me’. It marks the artist’s first release since her sophomore album PAINLESS, which arrived earlier this year. Listen to it below.
“‘Rid Of Me’ haunted me for many years after I first heard it, but in a comforting kind of way, like I knew it was always there for me,” Yanya remarked in a statement. “It comes across defiant, alien and twisted, but it is a perfect song. I actually think it’s very romantic despite what some of the lyrics get at.”
Swedish pop artist Merely has announced her new album, Sculpture, which is set to come out on October 14 via YEAR0001. To accompany the announcement, she’s shared two songs from the LP, ‘Tangerine Skies’ and ‘Bella Bugia’. Give them a listen below.
Merely’s last album was 2019’s Hatching the Egg. Earlier this year, the producer teamed up with Malibu on the track ‘Idle Citi’.
Sculpture Tracklist:
1. Blue
2. We’re Everlasting Energy
3. Tangerine Skies
4. Bella Bugia
5. Sculpture
6. Lover’s Lane
7. Ricochet Lullaby
8. The Killing Sun
9. Lucky Star
10. Far, far away
11. Megalith (you’re coming to save me again)
12. Heirloom
13. Book Of Hours
“Throughout this process I’ve worked on becoming a better producer and songwriter,” Thorvik said in a statement. “I’m liquid when it comes to music. My mind is set on making something emotional and refreshing. Some people might find my music schizophrenic, but playing with different genres and moods is what makes Jouska what it is.”
Wet Leg have shared a cover Ashnikko’s ‘Daisy’ as part of the Spotify Singles series. It’s paired with a reworking of their own track ‘Convincing’, which appears on their self-titled debut album. Take a listen below.
“I remember going to stay with Rhian around the time we recorded Chaise with Jon McMullen and she had told me about this artist she’d been listening to loads,” the band’s Hester Chambers said in a statement. “She sang and played ‘Daisy’ on the guitar in the morning while we had coffee. It feels like another little circle coming round in our Wet Leg world getting to make this cover.”
Commenting on the new version of ‘Convincing’, she added: “Most of our album was written in the depths of 2020, and right up to April 2021 when we went into the studio. Since live music has opened back up, we play some tracks just as they were recorded, but ‘Convincing’ is one of the songs that has gone through a little shapeshift over time as we’ve been playing gigs for the last year. This version we recorded with James leans into the more mellow and woozy world it exists in our live sets.”
Julien Chang has shared another preview of his upcoming record The Sale. ‘Snakebit’ follows the previously released songs ‘Marmalade’ and ‘Time & Place’. Check out its accompanying visual, animated by Vaughn Taormina, below.
“‘Snakebit’ emerged during a period of transformation,” Chang said in a press release. “This was around the time I left Baltimore for University in the middle of New Jersey. The awkwardness of the transition and the discomfort of ‘growing pains’ provoked in me a kind of creative agitation which found its outlet most decisively in this song. But the song is not only about changing. It is also about encountering change: in a reflective turn, encountering myself who is changing and then interrogating him, testing the limits of the ‘new me’ before finding that I am really not so different.”
Of the video, Chang commented: “The song takes the form of a self-interrogation. I have changed, but how? and when? Why? This video simulates the fragmented, unfocused, and self-contradictory search for clues that one falls into trying to answer. Taken as a whole, the animations all seem to go together on a single string, but examined individually, it is clear that what binds them is not any logical order. In this sense, the video has the structure of a dream. While dreaming, a rapid sequence of freely-associated images and events seems to make perfect sense. It is only upon sober reflection the following morning that these images and events become absurd, random, and nonsensical.”
Chicago punks Meat Wave have shared a new track, ’10k’, taken from their upcoming album Malign Hex – out October 14 on Big Scary Monsters. It follows previous cuts ‘Honest Living’, ‘Ridiculous Car’, and ‘What Would You Like Me To Do’. Listen to it below.
“’10k’ is about being alive for 10,000 days, which is around your 28th birthday,” the band’s Chris Sutter explained in a statement. “Feels like a long time – but is it? You feel like you know so much about life and navigating through it – but do you? Nah, not really. The title of the record directly relates to ’10k’.
“A malign hex pertains to your lineage,” Sutter added. “It’s something that is pertinent to only you, it’s handed down to you, or was raised in you. In that way, and pertaining to the record as a whole, I’d like to think it’s a human, universal feeling.”
TOLEDO is the indie rock duo of Dan Álvarez de Toledo and Jordan Dunn-Pilz, who grew up in Newburyport, Massachusetts and are now based in Brooklyn. Their first two EPs, 2019’s Hotstuff and 2021’s Jockeys of Love, shone through for their heartfelt, emotionally nuanced songwriting and glistening production, both qualities they bring to their debut LP, How It Ends, out this Friday via Grand Jury. Recorded in an upstate New York cabin as well as a church they rented in their Massachusetts hometown, the album finds the duo looking back on their upbringing to examine how the dynamics of each other’s family environment and history continue to seep into their present lives, flicking through memories of childhood innocence, trauma, and separation in search of catharsis and empathy. With additional production from Jay Som’s Melina Duterte, it’s a stunning record that benefits from the pair’s intuitive approach to collaboration, which gives How It Ends the feel of a worldless conversation between friends who have lived through so much, and who, when given the chance, could speak about it in the same breath. There’s a lot to unpack beneath the surface, but the beauty and resonance of what comes out is simply undeniable.
We caught up with TOLEDO for this edition of our Artist Spotlight interview series to talk about their upbringing, their approach going into How It Ends, working with Jay Som, and more.
What comes to mind when you think about your upbringing? Does it bring up similar memories for each of you?
Jordan Dunn-Pilz: We spent a lot of our Newburyport time as friends. And it’s such a small town, so imagery-wise, it’s a lot of the same stuff. I feel like all we did was walk around by the water.
Daniel Álvarez de Toledo: I feel like before we knew each other, when we were like 11 or so, those were formative years of childhood, and we probably had our own different paths. But then once we were friends with each other, everything intertwined a bit and it kind of felt like we were going on the same path. Until we separated again when we went to college, and then we’re back on the same path now. So I feel like our experiences would be kind of similar – I mean, they’re literally different in terms of household things, that’s what the album is about. But I feel like we kind of understand each other’s experiences, and we’re there for a lot of them.
JD: We had a band together in high school, too, so a lot of what we did was play music together.
DA: Music was always a part of it. But I feel like we both think of Newburyport in the same way or think of our upbringing in the same way. It’s just that mine had, like, the Spanish spice to it and yours had some divorce spice.
What were your impressions of each other when you became friends?
DA: Intimidated.
JD: That’s fair. I was definitely quieter than, and angrier than –
DA: Angrier than?
JD: I remember when we first met to play music together, Dan was playing piano and I was playing guitar. And he started playing Sara Bareilles’ ‘Love Song’, and I started playing the Cure’s ‘Lovesong’.
DA: I mean, that’s literally the epitome of the album, though, if you think about it. Because we always try to bring that back, like our upbringing, with music.
JD: Because there’s moody guitar line, slide-y stuff, but then there’s also singer-songwriter-ychoruses.
DA: We always try to combine all that together. But I think our impressions of each other were– I don’t really remember too much, but I was intimidated, my parents were intimidated by Jordan. Jordan was a scary character. And I was like a goody two shoes little boy, dressed up in my button-up shirts. I was, like, a neck-beard loser. I had a Jew-fro, I had a fedora, Jordan was like, puffy jacket and a chain…
JD: [laughs] In like the whitest, safest town.
DA: Oh yeah, in a literal tourist town.
Jordan, how about you? I guess you weren’t intimidated by Daniel, but…
JD: No, he was wearing a fedora. He was very Jason Mraz energy. But also, I think it was really exciting to me because I had been playing music before with people – this was like middle school –and they were just hobbyists, and then I met Daniel and he was actually already really good as a 12-year-old. I remember in high school I would be like, if nothing else, I’ll just ride Daniel’s coattails to the Grammys.
DA: And that’s what we’re doing. Jordan’s just riding my coattails.
Do you think if it weren’t for music you would have connected in the same way?
DA: No.
JD: [laughs] Probably not.
DA: Well, maybe, but it wouldn’t have sparked the connection.
JD: We had the same mutual friends, was how we got set up together anyway.
DA: And when we were in high school, there weren’t a lot of people doing music. It was kind of in the background of our social life, but it was there. We had weeks where we’d go to the local Chinese restaurant with our friends on Saturday, and then Sunday we’d have band practice. It was very integrated into our lives in a pretty seamless way. But it was there in the background, it’s not until now that it’s really the forefront. You live with your girlfriend in Manhattan, I live with my girlfriend in Brooklyn, and we have our studio in Brooklyn that we meet at. This is like, we’re in month two of us not living together for the first time in like four or five years.
JD: Withdrawals.
DA: Yeah, withdrawals.
When you came back together after college and started playing music together seriously again, what was that transition like?
JD: I feel like there were a few stages, because Daniel was going to school for music and I was going to school for acting. So I feel like you always knew you’re going to do music; I thought I was going to do acting hardcore. We were meeting during our winter breaks in college to write and record music, and ‘On My Own’ and ‘Crane Song’ were written during those breaks.
DA: We still pine for that era.
JD: Right. [laughs] The naïveté. Right after school, I did theatre for like eight months, like a tour.
DA: And I was a year behind, so I was still in school.
JD: We were doing the thing where we would meet during breaks, and I think we were realizing I was liking that way more than I was liking theatre. And Daniel’s probably like, “I like this music way more than I like white neo-soul.”
DA: The Berklee music. I hated it.
JD: He graduated right when I was finishing the theatre tour, and then we recorded our EP and we’re playing shows in New York. Then we were committed to it, but we still had side jobs and stuff. And then after, when the pandemic hit and we were just doing music during the pandemic, it felt so good. We were like –
DA: “We got to just do this for work.”
JD: And then we quit our side jobs, and now we just do TOLEDO and production stuff.
DA: For other people, which is kind of great.
Do you look back on a specific moment during the pandemic when that became clear to both of you?
DA: It was clear when we got to New York that we were like, “This is what we want to do with our lives.” But then it was clear with the pandemic that we were like, “I think we can do this now.” It wasn’t a pipe dream anymore. It was more, we’re doing it, we just got to keep doing it and commit to it. So now we’re in that stage, I can’t even imagine going back to nannying. [Jordan laughs] We were both nannies for a couple of years. That was formative for us.
When it came to reflecting on the relationships you grew up around on How It Ends, was that something you spent quite a bit of time talking about before you started writing about it? Was that part of the process at all?
DA: Not really, because it was something we kind of just knew.
JD: We probably knew that there was a lot of material about that kind of stuff.
DA: And the opening song [‘Soda Can’] kind of introduces you to that conversation that we have about it. The lyrics are Jordan talking about the escapism of going to spend time with me and my family, specifically my mother. And I feel like that starts the conversation for the listener, but for us, it was natural in the sense that the way that we talk about emotional things is just through song.
JD: On a personal level, I was doing a lot of talk therapy before we were writing that album, so I feel like that was bubbling up. My grandfather had just died, and that got me thinking a lot about my own father. And then it all just came out.
DA: And that kind of launched me to – I was like, Jordan’s writing about his upbringing, I had a very privileged upbringing. I had to kind of step outside of that and see what I have learned from those relationships, whether it’s positive or negative. It was good for me to be able to hear Jordan writing about these themes, and then think about them for myself and be like, “How does this apply to me? Where can I put myself in this?” We came up with songs like ‘Ghosty’ and ‘Climber’ out of the relationships that I had. I feel like it just naturally happened, and the conversation that we would have about it exists within those songs. There’s no paragraphs describing the songs – the deepest it goes is in those songs, and I feel like that’s what’s most important to us, is that people get a window into that instead of closing them off from any information.
At the end of ‘Soda Can’, are you saying “double it”?
DA: Oh, yeah. Meta, because we’re doubling each other the whole album, I think, is us singing in unison together. It’s like four voices, because it’s Jordan doubling himself and me doubling myself all at the same time.
JD: And we like to keep little snippets in.
DA: We like to have a little bit of that organic – you feel like you’re there when you’re listening to it. We don’t want it to feel like it’s some polished thing, because then it just feels kind of impersonal to the listener.
JD: And because it’s not.
DA: It never is. We never do the big studio thing. We want people to know how bad we are at it. [Jordan laughs]
It makes sense to leave that in too, because I assumed it’s something you say or at least do a lot throughout the process.
DA: I didn’t even know that was in there.
JD: I love the hyper-specific questions.
DA: That was a winner question.
I feel like the album is less about like the formative experiences themselves and more about how you carry them in the present, in how you express yourselves and in your relationships with others and with yourselves. And I feel like a lot of that tension is kind of released on a song like ‘How It Ends’, but I don’t know if it’s ever fully resolved.
DA: I mean, I feel like ‘Fixing Up the Back Room’ gets into some resolution – or less resolution, more confrontation. But we talk about this all the time, we never want the projects to feel like they wrap up in a nice bow too much, because those conversations that you have about those topics – about divorce, about learned love, about relationships – they’re kind of a never-ending conversation. And you don’t really want to say there’s a solution or an answer to any of it, but there’s always a question. I feel like we don’t really answer any of our own questions, we more just kind of land to the point by the end where we’re forgiving and understanding of the situations that we were in. But we’re not letting them go. They’re not gone.
JD: The way the album ends was kind of weird. It was also one of the first songs written for the album. ‘Soda Can’ definitely starts like, present day, this is how I feel about it, these are the unresolved feelings that I carry around. And then the last song travels back to when my mom had her first kid and was a single parent with me, and trying to put yourself in her shoes and understand where she was coming from. I like that it goes from this really angry place at the start of the album to kind of like lullaby kids song. Because that’s where the trauma comes from, is when you’re too young to even understand what’s going on.
DA: It kind of creates this loop of, we’re at the age our parents were now when they were having kids and getting married, and we’re not that. So, going in the loop and then ending it with your mom having her first kidkind of puts it in this cycle of generational, like, “What’s next?”
Do you feel like you’ve learned how to be more empathetic towards not just the people in your past, but also the people around you, as a result of this?
DA: I think so. I think that’s the goal. I think it’s less about us learning to do it – I mean, we obviously need to, but it’s kind of about other people and listeners trying to get that out of it. But I think for us, it’s been pretty cathartic. It won’t feel as emotionally impactful to me until it’s readily available for everyone else, I think. Right now, it just feels like it’s still in our heads because it’s not out there in the world yet.
JD: It did push me to have necessary talks with my family, which was good. So on a personal level, it was good, and if it does that for other people, that’s when it would be really meaningful; if it sparks those conversations or helps someone who is going through a family divorce or something to feel like they’re not alone in this situation. We want it to be pretty clear that it’s about that, because as a kid I felt like, I don’t know if many albums were about that overtly. I think that’s a cool thing that, like, half the people in the world will understand. I have a lot of friends that I was talking to during the process, too – feelings about your self-worth, how you engage in other relationships because of watching what your parents were like. It was just coming to a head in our personal lives, so it felt like a good time to address these patterns and experiences.
Because you’ve put out stuff in the past, I’m sure you’ve had to have difficult conversations with people in your life that you address in some way in your music. Does it feel different with this album?
JD: It feels more personal.
DA: It definitely feels more personal. It feels like it’s as personal as we’re going to – not as we’re gonna go, I don’t know – but it feels like we wanted to get that out there to make sure that the story is there, so that we can have a little more fun in the future with music and feel like there’s not as much of a weight of feeling like we need to write about certain things or not.
How did the collaboration with Jay Som come about, and what do you feel like she brought to the album?
DA: She’s a friend of ours, and we work on a lot of other artists together with her. So that was kind of a cool experience of being like, “Hey, I know we have you mix our clients all the time, do you want to come and spend a few days with us at a cabin and work on some stuff?” And it was a small role, she just came in and oversaw some of the things we were doing, added a few sounds. We weren’t ready to have someone produce a TOLEDO album, but we were ready to have someone come in and add their ideas. And I think that Melina was the perfect person to do that, because we were already friends and we knew that there was this understanding about each other’s music that we had. It was really fun, but it’s such a small thing on the album sometimes, where it’s like, this synth sound on the last song, the album ends with Melina laughing. All these little pieces that bring you into a little bit more of a world was some of Melina’s doing.
JD: She showed us some cool production techniques that we’ll probably use in the future too. Like in ‘Ghosty’ and ‘Back Room’, there’s some piano, you can barely hear it. And she was like, “We should put spoons and rocks and little knickknacks on the strings of the piano,” and it gets to a weird, jangly –
DA: And that’s the sound of a lot of How It Ends. A lot of How It Ends is Melina and us just having fun with percussive instruments and things. And I think that’s kind of the best way to make music, is be less heady about it and just do whatever sounds cool and is fun and throw shit at the wall and see whatever sticks.
Can you share one thing that inspires you about each other?
DA: Oh… That’s emotional. I think one of the things that inspires me about Jordan is his poetry. We always rely on Jordan for a lot of lyrical stuff, and I think that’s something that we realize if we weren’t a duo and we were separate things, it wouldn’t really work. So I kind of know what Jordan’s answer is going to be, but what it inspires me about Jordan and what makes me look up to him as a songwriter is his ability to create a story with sometimes artistic imagery. Especially in the new stuff, but a lot of older songs, too, that are more poetic, have linear motion and have a story – and it might be written in a creative writing type way, but it comes through.
JD: Now, what do you think my answer is?
DA: I don’t know… Music?
JD: Well, I do always tell people that Dan the most talented musician, but that’s not, like, inspiring. But it is true. But I think he’s really, really dedicated. Sometimes too much.
DA: Yeah. Backhanded compliment?
JD: The work ethic is inspiring – I mean when he’s in a studio, like in a production mode, you could throw things at him and he wouldn’t even notice because he gets so focused.
DA: In it to win it. I’m going for like a Brian Wilson type. I genuinely want that. I want, like, psycho music savant one day. That’s a little heady, but we’ll see.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Years ago before the advancement of technology, people used to get physical copies of their photos after taking a picture. They would keep these copies as part of their memories and show them to people or even make extra copies for family and friends.
This has been changed by technology. Today, photography has been digitized. People have thousands of digital copies of their photos saved on phones, computers, and other electronic gadgets. They even forget about most of these photos and keep taking new ones.
This means that it is easy for them to forget about some of their best memories. Fortunately, you can keep all your memories alive by using your photos as gifts in creative and fun ways. Here are a few ways to do that;
Customize Phone Cases with Photos
Technology advancement has given birth to smartphones that can take professional-looking photos.
Unfortunately, people tend to take these photos using their smartphones and forget about them even though they are stored on their phones. Why not keep these photos on top of your phone instead?
Well, since people spend a lot of time holding their phones, you can decide to give someone a phone case designed with some of your best photos to make the device look like a photo book.
You do not even have to hire someone to do this for you. Again, technology has given birth to apps that you can use to design photo collages using custom templates and then put them on phone cases. This is one of the best custom anniversary gift ideas.
Choose Seasonal and Holiday Photos to Create a Calendar
Even though modern technology has pushed aside physical calendars, some people still put great value in these calendars and cannot live in a home without one or even more than one. This is especially true for the older generation.
You can use your photos on these calendars and then gift them to such people. When creating a calendar with pictures, you can choose different pictures for every month or even week depending on the design of your calendar.
To make the calendar more special, consider marking all the important days such as birthdays and anniversaries to ensure that they are not forgotten. Such a gift can go a long way in decorating a home and making someone feel special.
Add Pictures on Cakes
You will always find a cake when someone is celebrating something. It might be a birthday, a wedding, an anniversary, or even a promotion at the workplace. If you decide to gift them with a cake, you can creatively put your picture with theirs on the cake.
Even though this might not be a long-lasting gift, it will create some good memories and will give them a chance to enjoy themselves and the gift you are presenting them. But how do you go about getting an edible photo on a cake?
Well, if you can bake, go ahead and bake the cake at home. After that, look for cake shops that can print edible photos for you. If you cannot bake, then there are plenty of cake shops that can get the job done for you at some fee.
Turn Photos into Art
One of the most commonly used ways of using your photos as a gift is by ordering a bigger print of the photos and then framing it. There are many websites and applications online that allow you to do that. However, you might want to gift a person who would have some reservations about having their photos hanging on walls even though it is inside their house.
Well, all is not lost for such people. All you need to do is simply turn these photos into paintings and art. Again, you can find applications online that allow you to do that without any problems. The picture comes out with a sophisticated and artistic look even though it resembles the original photo.
Design Professional Photo Books
A few decades ago, people used photo books with a sticky substance that was used to hold photos. All you needed to do was to peel the plastic cover on each of the pages and then stick your photos creatively.
If you do not feel like this is too old-fashioned, you can get a similar photo book and then creatively stick your photos with your loved ones. This could be too old-fashioned for some people.
Fortunately, such people can use different applications that allow them to upload all the photos they would like to add to a photo book. They can then organize these photos to match their requirements. The photo book can be printed or used digitally.
You do not have to forget about the important memories you have captured in photos. Using the creative and fun ways discussed above, you can create gifts from your photos.
The number of people signing up for online sportsbook betting apps is on the rise, with millions across the United States and Canada enjoying their newfound freedoms. The long-running and often controversial ban on betting in the US was lifted in 2018, and in the years since, we have seen one major state after another permit residents and visitors to place wagers on sport. This could be betting on the winner of an NFL match shown live on television or the afternoon’s horse racing.
The chances are you would have noticed major sportsbook branding creep into the NFL and other popular sports. The leading teams can now advertise betting brands, accept sponsorship cash from bookies and even set up sportsbooks at the stadium. Football fans will enjoy placing a bet on the match this season and cheering on their predictions, either from the stadium or live on television. The cream of the crop Vegas betting sites offers pre-match betting as well as in-play odds, allowing fans and gamblers to have their say before kick-off or at any stage of the contest.
We’re here to help
Betting promises to modernise how Americans watch and interact with sports. All there is left for you to do is choose the bookie that’s right for you, create an account and start gambling. But which betting app is best? Finding an app that suits your style of gambling and relates to your favourite sports, competitions, and teams is no mean feat, that’s for sure.
This article reviews sportsbook betting apps, listing three things you should insist on from a bookie before you even consider joining and awarding them your custom. The online sportsbook gambling industry is fiercely competitive, with traditional bookies from Las Vegas and Europe forced to battle for your business with start-up and online-only gambling apps. The better the bookie you bet with, the more chance there is of you landing a profit.
Welcome bonus
The best bookies offer all new players a welcome bonus. This is a promotion designed to help a sportsbook stand out from the crowd in what has become a ferociously competitive marketplace. With the US joining the party, bookies are battling to take advantage of a clean slate and millions of untouched players.
These bonuses come in many shapes and sizes, with the best being a deposit matched free bet. When you register with a betting app, make your first deposit and place a bet, the marketing team will award you a free bet equal to your deposit. For example, deposit and bet $100 on the NFL and the bookie will drop a $100 free bet into your account balance which can be used to gamble on your favourite sports, competitions and teams. This has become extremely popular with players, as you can imagine, and you can get your share today.
Other welcome bonuses include risk-free bets, cashback, enhanced odds, extra places each way and competition entry. Browse the market to see what’s available, then grab your share.
Sports and markets
The more sports available to bet on, the better. You want a bookie who loves the same competitions and teams as you, offering an abundance of markets on the next fixture. Each sport and match should have a large number of markets attached. This improves your chances of landing a winner and earning a profit.
You want to see all the most popular sports covered, including American Football, soccer, basketball, baseball, hockey, horse racing and more. But there should also be a generous serving of more niche markets, such as politics, reality TV and esports.
Live streaming
A bookie is worth joining and betting with if they offer a live streaming service. This is something that is reserved for the best in the business. Place a bet on an event and click the live streaming tab to watch the match, race or fight directly to your smartphone free of charge.
It’s HD quality with expert commentary, in-play betting odds and updated markets, live scores and predictions. The top apps believe if you have placed a bet on an event, risking your hard-earned cash, the least you should expect is to be able to watch the match.
Netflix recently released the third and final season of Locke & Key, adapted from the graphic novel series created by Joe Hill. A coming-of-age supernatural horror series, the story centres around the Locke family and their ancestral home Keyhouse, which is filled with hidden mystical keys.
The series stars Darby Stanchfield as Locke family matriarch Nina Locke, Connor Jessup as the eldest child Tyler Locke, Emilia Jones as middle child Kinsey Locke and Jackson Robert Scott (Georgie from the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s It) as the youngest child Bode Locke.
Not only is the series a thrill to watch, but it also dives deeply into complex, yet significant concepts, such as trauma, fear and addiction in a very raw way (warning, there are some spoilers ahead so please read on at your own discretion).
One of the things I perhaps liked most about the series is how it addresses trauma and loss. Even before the series begins, the Locke family faces the death of patriarch Rendell Locke. Let me be more specific: various flashbacks reveal that Rendell was murdered, by one of his students, in front of the family – with Tyler watching helplessly from outside the front door, Kinsey trying to protect Bode, and Nina also getting shot before managing to knock the perpetrator unconscious. As the series begins, the family uproots their life from Seattle to the small town of Matheson, Massachusetts, where Keyhouse awaits them. However, in the first season, they continue to be haunted by memories of the traumatic event, with sounds and images from their daily lives reminding them of the tragedy.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the supernatural elements of the series. Each magical key is uniquely designed and has its own ability. There’s the Anywhere Key, which allows you to travel through any door you’ve seen before, and the Head Key, which allows you to venture inside your own head. The Head Key is especially unique as it allows you to revisit your memories, put things inside your head that you can later recall and literally “meet” your emotions (fear, happiness, etc.), which are personified by a version of yourself. And of course, we can’t forget about the demonic entity who goes by the name Dodge and who is also seeking the keys for their own sinister reasons.
However, we can’t overlook the fact that the show also conveys a lot of real, relatable material about complex topics and emotions. The notion of pain and trauma as something we would rather forget emerges throughout the series. In the world of Locke & Key, adults do not remember magic, but the Memory Key allows people to retain their memories of the magic of Keyhouse and the keys. At the end of the second season (spoiler alert!) Tyler’s girlfriend Jackie dies after being turned into a demon by Dodge (and a failed attempt to turn her back). Thus, Tyler decides to not use the Memory Key on himself so he would forget his memories of magic and the pain of losing his girlfriend. However, in the third season, Tyler changes his tune, as he ultimately decides to use the Memory Key, reasoning that having the memories back will allow him to understand his pain.
I also like how the series conceptualizes fear. As the first season begins, Kinsey is haunted by her father’s murder, finding herself paralyzed by fear. Ultimately, she decides to use the Head Key to literally take the fear out of her head and bury her fear – which is a living, monstrous representation of her – in the backyard. She starts to take risks as a result of being fearless and she goes after what she wants; however, in the second season, she realizes how much she is missing with an entire emotion removed from her head. She is able to summon her “fear monster” to return to her and reinsert her fear back into her head. This helps her confront her fears and move on, especially when she realizes that her former boyfriend “Gabe” is actually Dodge in disguise. Kinsey’s character arc illustrates fear as a sometimes unwelcome but ultimately valuable presence in our lives.
Also interwoven in the series are Nina’s struggles with alcoholism, which she is struggling with even before the events of the series. So, we can see how things intensify for her following the murder of Rendell and the subsequent relocation of her family to Keyhouse. Things get even more complicated when Sam Lesser, the student who murdered Rendell, shows up at Keyhouse in the seventh episode of the first season, threatening the family and demanding several of the keys. This results in her falling off the wagon. Over the course of the subsequent episode, Nina starts to spin out of control as her children watch, unsure how to handle it. Ultimately, Nina clashes with her children, smashing the urn with Rendell’s ashes on the floor. Although Nina can bounce back, her addiction comes back to haunt her in the third season when, using the Head Key, she relives some of the most painful mistakes she made as a result of her addiction. In a scene that’s difficult to watch, Kinsey comforts her mother about the fact that she’s spiralling into her former destructive self, just without the alcohol. “You haven’t taken a drink, but you’ve still found a way to relapse,” Kinsey says.
Locke & Key is a great supernatural series, filled with magic, family secrets and plot twists. But, above all, what I love about the series is how it combines the mystical elements of magical keys, demons, and a paranormal world with realistic portrayals of real-word concepts, such as trauma, fear and loss.