Five Right Now: koleżanka

Fusing a sound both electronic and indie, the wandering psychedelia of Kristina Moore offers a welcome adventure away from day to day life. Despite the intricacies that culminate within the Brooklyn based artist’s music, it does not once feel overwhelming. Instead, it’s spirals of melody, when coupled with Moore’s vocals, provide a hypnotic tranquility to lose yourself within.

Feeling just as at home soundtracking a sunny highway drive as it would in a late night arcade, koleżanka’s debut album, Place Is, which arrives on the 30th July via Bar None Records, is an almost time warping experience. Ahead of its release, we caught up with the artist to see who she’d been listening to recently. These are her Five Right Now picks.

Koney – When When 

A friend sent me this record a while ago and I, being maybe the most frustrating person to send music to because I listen to music so infrequently, slept on it for weeks. I am so glad I finally listened because this whole record rules. Caught the line ‘Made an ugly face in a dirty mirror,’ and was sold. I love this song because I think it’s exemplary of how much is accomplished with such minimalism, and how effective space can be. To me, this song feels like seeing a stranger do something embarrassing in public and realise you’re the only one who saw, and in that moment of connection and forgiveness and shared humour things feel less monotonously sad.

Cardioid – Lucy 

For me, there are favourite bands of mine that are my favourite because they simply can do no wrong. I love everything they make – I feel like the sound already understands me. Then there are others I love because they challenge me, because the sound seems to ask me to lean forward and understand it. Cardioid’s music is a journey, and I find myself asking ‘how did I get here?’ so often while listening. I truly don’t know how these progressions come into her brain, and have found myself aspiring to press on towards more sonic unfamiliarity in myself since becoming a fan (of which I am of the ‘super’ variety). Lucy is from an EP of backlogged songs that were all written and produced by Lizzy Ellison alone, and it is probably my favorite body of work of her’s as a whole. Each movement is not like the last, but subtly so, and also this song has one of my favorite guitar riffs ever. I think its annoying when the first thing people point out about women musicians is their voice, and I’m sure many can relate to being labeled the ‘singer’ when you’re a multi-instrumentalist producer engineer who just wrote a record entirely alone. With that being said, on top of making profound arrangements and compelling chord structures, Lizzy’s vocal work is just spectacular. 

Rodrigo Amarante – Maré

BIG fan, and was absolutely floored when this song was released! Rodrigo Amarante’s textures and tones are so playful and busy, but precise and effective and warm. Every inch of this song is full and feels dense and humid. There’s so much play between melodic choice and percussive conversation between each instrument. There are these melodic call backs echoed and overlaid that are so pleasing, this song truly creates a cooperative ecosystem and you feel like you’re standing in the middle in awe of all things living around you

Sonoda – Point of View

A friend first introduced me to Sonoda when they released Here We Are Now (songs from the short film) on Bandcamp (highly recommend!!) and it was one of my favorite things to come out in 2020. Point of View is a newer single of theirs and it envelops you entirely. Sonoda’s synth work is fascinating to me with all of the ethereal dissonance and atonal structuring that I am such a sucker for. I love how space in the song seems to expand in the beginning, almost to the point of overflow, then slowly compress again at the end, like one giant breath. I am so stoked to hear what Sonoda puts out next. 

Bachelor – Spin Out 

I think about space in music a lot if thats not already abundantly clear by this point, and Spin Out really nails it. Quite simply this song makes me feel drunk and in love. The tones on this whole record are a slam dunk, but I especially love these scattered, wavering guitar hits over the acoustic that make the whole song feel like its shimmering underwater. I love how you can hear a breadth of a landscape in this song, and some sounds almost feel like they’re thrown across it. 

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