SRSQ - Unreality (Dais Records) 2018
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SRSQ (pronounced seer-skew) is the solo project of Kennedy Ashlyn (vocalist/keyboardist of Them Are Us Too) and the creative force behind one of the gems of 2018. Driven by the death of her closest friend and TAUT collaborator Cash Askew, a casualty in the sudden and tragic Oakland Ghost Ship Fire of 2016, SRSQ was the way she found to process and explore her feelings, such as grief, nostalgia and acceptance.
Unreality is SRSQ debut album, a very sorrowful and melancholic piece, with a disturbing beauty that easily matches the dark 80’s nostalgia of the early 4AD era. It’s easy to draw comparisons between Ashlyn’s voice and the 80’s dark wave queens Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) and Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins).
Ashlyn’s flirtation with that golden era brings somehow a lush and charming lightness into her mysterious and seductive dark side, as if her delicate and spacious arrangements and the subtle sonic detail navigate into an apocalyptical limbo of euphoria and despair. Unreality is a triumph in its intimacy and honesty. Here’s to MISERY!