Poetmistry (Krishan Mistry) is an artist whose sound design tutorial content I’ve been following for ages on socials, so it was exciting to see a submission from him. His new album, STRAWBERRY, and its lead single, “Strawberry in Hell,” are both unusually tender, in light of Mistry’s reliance on a bright, crisp, sound palette–much of which is created via exercises in extreme time stretching of pop songs. Mistry explains that there is no overarching “aboutness” behind the album (that’s not how I work. I sit down, I open up my computer, and I literally feel like I blackout), but he found himself nonetheless surprised by its resulting sentimentality. It clocks for me; for a sincere, feeling person–which Mistry comes across as in his tutorial content–if one finds a flow state and lets the work speak, the result is likely to be correspondingly emotionally attached and genuine. The whole record is really worth checking; grab it on bandcamp or for streaming.

Poetmistry – “Strawberry in Hell” (mp3)

I’m not the world’s best interpreter of lyrics, but a line like my heart is bittersweet company / the world revolves around me, and then it falls apart sounds to me like it’s about the loneliness of selfishness and obstinance–the way self-imposed isolation is self-fulfilling. Most of us know the feeling of being too spiteful and righteous to admit we’re wrong about something but simultaneously embarrassed at our own rigidity and thus trapped in a cage of our own making. I changed all the locks on my door / rewrote all the chords to your favorite song. DC-based camden bay (Mary Ruane) seems to be writing about something along these lines in this serene bit of vocal downtempo she sent over recently. This is her third single, and it’s pretty heavenly. No bandcamp, unfortunately, but Ruane sent me the mp3 to post here–and it’s out for streaming all over.

camden bay – “atlas” (mp3)

Last but not least tonight, a brilliantly selftitled song from a brilliantly titled artist, looking for a shoegaze drummer (Carson Aquilano Forney [she/her]). Songs like this come along every so often and make me feel like I’m in my childhood bedroom again, 15 or 16, with wide eyes and a sense of unbridled openness to music’s possibilities. It feels sort of like the expression of id in an almost inhumanly sweet person–someone whose deepest, darkest impulses are nonetheless gentle and generous. I don’t mean to project anything onto Forney herself; it’s more that I hear in this song the invaluable quality of a pure willingness to explore without pretense. She’s lucky to be able to channel that. This is from her recent EP, it’s easy to crash looking for a shoegaze drummer, which is not available for streaming but is on bandcamp.

looking for a shoegaze drummer – “looking for a shoegaze drummer” (mp3)