Singer/Songwriter Finds Identity On New Album

“Flux & Contemplation – Portrait of an Artist in Isolation”

Simon Posford

Twisted Records

The master sonic sculptor Simon Posford has crafted one of his most innovative albums in his 30 years of groundbreaking electronic music production: “Flux & Contemplation – Portrait of an Artist in Isolation,” released July 3.

Acclaimed worldwide for his boundary-defying collaboration Shpongle and iconic dance project Hallucinogen, Posford has used this global time of isolation to go back to early modes of production. Rather than framing his compositions in restrictively structured arrangements on computer, he mixed loops in real time to spontaneously sculpt tracks that reflected his in-the-moment perspective of being in lockdown. Knowing all the parts that he had in his palette under the faders of his mixing desk, he daily produced new versions of tracks until he had best expressed his personal experience in isolation.

The result is a masterpiece of electronic exploration and extrapolation that is magnetic and hypnotic in nature and the artist’s debut solo album.

“Indistinct Conversations” Land of Talks Saddle Creek

“Indistinct Conversations” sounds like being set adrift. Beginning with the aptly named “Diaphanous,” singer and guitarist Elizabeth Powell creates a hazy dream world of guitar and murmured, stream-of-consciousness vocals, surrounded by echoes of overheard conversations. It’s the sound of an introvert at a party, withdrawing into the cocoon of their thoughts while the people around them chatter.

Yet, “Indistinct Conversations” is not an album of numbing out. By drawing back into their interior world, Powell was able to emerge with a stronger sense of self — and more willingness to confront the oppressive structures of the world. This process included embracing their identity as a non-binary femme, who uses the pronouns she/they — “When I was younger, I didn’t even understand what a gender binary was. I just felt sort of confused my whole life. So now my mind is blown” — and engaging directly with the trauma inflicted on them as a “woman-presenting human.”

That radical self-acceptance, the ability to speak in one’s own voice, is the hallmark of “Indistinct Conversations.” By digging deep, Powell has found a certainty we all deserve: the realization that their own voice is enough.

“Unity”

Gordon Koang

Music in Exile / Light in the Attic

Legendary South Sudanese pop star Gordon Koang will release his 11th album, “Unity,” Aug. 14. A Nuer musician, hailing from the banks of the River Nile in what is now South Sudan, Koang was born blind. He began playing music on the streets of Juba as a young man though has now become a grassroots hero, the voice of the Nuer people, a prominent figure in the fight for cultural independence in South Sudan, affectionately known as the “King of Music.”

“Unity” is Koang’s first album since relocating to Australia. It is his only recorded output in the painstakingly long six years of living as an asylum seeker, and the album was completed just weeks before he was awarded his permanent residency. In late 2019, Koang began a series of collaborations with musicians from around Australia, in search of a new sound that would be suited to his adopted home.

And what is this message? Unity. Peace between all people of the world, regardless of religion or cultural differences. Love each other, and love yourself.

“Shebeen Queen” Vusi Mahlasela ATO Records

Vusi Mahlasela, the legendary activist and singer-songwriter known as “The Voice” in his native South Africa, will release a new live album of traditional township songs, “Shebeen Queen,” on Aug. 14. The “shebeen queen” of the title is Mahlasela’s late grandmother Ida (whom he calls Magogo), who raised him in the township of Mamelodi (meaning “mother of melody”), where he still lives today. Following her husband’s murder in 1961, Ida opened a shebeen (speakeasy) and began selling home brewed beer (umqombothi) to make her living. Her space became known for its lively musical gatherings at night, where the townspeople would use buckets, tins and plastic drums as instruments, and Ingoma’buksu — music rooted in Mbube culture, meaning “Songs of the Night” — would be celebrated with everyone singing together in full voices. Ida became known as the “Shebeen Queen.”

“Shebeen Queen” is a celebration of the vibrant musical culture of his hometown, first encountered at Ida’s shebeen. “I wanted to honour this music and my grandmother by recording a live show, right here in Mamelodi at Magogo’s house,” he says.