MUSIC
Christian, ‘80s Pop, and Saxophone
Out LGBTQ artists unveil new music options in August
BY STEVE ERICKSON
At a time when Lil Nas X
is dominating the music
industry, other LGBTQ
music artists are
also coming out with new music in
the month of August.
Queer Norwegian saxophonist
Bendik Giske is debuting an album
inspired by “queer time,” Semler is
reaching new heights as a LGBTQ
artist in Christian music, and Angel
Olsen is introducing a new ep
on August 20. Below we have an
overview of the latest offerings by
these out music artists.
“Preacher’s Kid” by Semler
Semler introduced their NPR
Tiny Desk performance with “I’m
Semler, and I make Christian music
about being gay.” The queer,
non-binary singer made history
this year when their “Preacher’s
Kid” ep topped iTunes’ Christian
chart, becoming the fi rst out LGBTQ
artist ever to do so. Swearing,
acknowledging a fondness for
weed, and singing about homophobia
and religious trauma aren’t
particularly challenging for a typical
indie folk artist, but “Preacher’s
Kid” is full of anger at a community
she grew up in while still fi nding
comfort in faith.
Semler, under her real name
Grace Baldridge, hosted a You-
Tube series about LGBTQ people
and Christianity for Refi nery29.
The episode about the fl aws of the
Christian music industry helped
inspire “Preacher’s Kid.” On “Jesus
From Texas,” she sings “I fi nd
it easier to believe in Bigfoot than
God, because he does no harm,”
with the chorus running “I’ll spend
the rest of my life tearing down/
the Jesus from Texas you believe
in.” Semler, whose father is indeed
an Episcopal preacher, addresses
the repression of their sexuality
in very personal terms. Without
mentioning gender, “Chicken” describes
their teenage attraction to
a female friend, which ended after
getting caught by adults. “Youth
Camp” looks back at the same
period and goes even further, recalling
furtive sexual experiences
Angel Olsen, who came out as gay in April, has a new ep, “Aisles.”
at Christian camp while asking
God “if you’re out there, I’m waiting.”
The outro “Promised Land” fi -
nally takes a more hopeful view of
Christianity, singing “I don’t know
who you think I am/I belong in the
promised land.”
The ep is rough and homemade,
with subtle overdubs of their own
backing vocals and keyboards.
Samples of keys being shaken open
and close it. They left in takes
where their voice strains as long as
it suited the song’s emotions. The
lo-fi sound of “Preacher’s Kid” may
stem from fi nancial necessity, but
it enhances the music’s pull. So
does the specifi c, personal tone of
the lyrics. “Preacher’s Kid” has the
impact of a brief collection of short
stories.
“Aisles” by Angel Olsen
For the last decade, movie trailers
have been fi lled with slow, depressive
covers of pop songs by
female singers. On the surface,
the new ep by Angel Olsen, who
came out as gay in April, is up to
the same thing. She covers fi ve
pop songs from the ‘80s: Billy
Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face,” Laura
Brannigan’s “Gloria,” Men Without
DANA TRIPPE
Hats’ “Safety Dance,” Alphaville’s
“Forever Young,” and OMD’s “If
You Leave.” Although Olsen’s own
songs have been more folk-based,
she dabbled in dance music with
the Chromatics’ excellent remix of
“All Mirrors,” the title track of her
last album. (She has also released
the single “Like I Used To,” a duet
with Sharon van Etten, this summer.)
She slows down “Eyes Without
a Face,” “Safety Dance,” and
“Gloria” and performs “Forever
Young” without percussion.
Olsen relies on electronics here
without adopting an ‘80s synthpop
aesthetic. These songs are
actual reinterpretations. “Gloria”
puts reverb on the drums, creating
a stuttering effect that reveals an
anxiety covered up by the original’s
upbeat arrangement. Olsen transforms
“Gloria” from a dancefl oor
triumph to a song about a woman
struggling with loneliness, mental
health issues, and diffi cult relationships.
(Her inspiration came
from watching her aunts dance to
it at a wedding and picturing them
doing so in slow motion.) “Eyes
Without a Face” strips Idol’s song of
the original singer’s pseudo-punk
sneer. These fi rst three songs come
close to the “sad girl” cover formula,
but their slow arrangements
emphasize lyrics that might’ve
been lost in the originals. Olsen’s
“If You Leave,” which features electric
guitar and booming drums, is
far more melodramatic than OMD.
“Forever Young” ends with a long
instrumental section built around
soaring strings. Instead of reaching
a dramatic climax, the strings
fade out beneath a growing layer of
effects. This project was conceived
with producer Adam McDaniel as
a break from more ambitious albums,
but it adds up to something
more enjoyable and substantial
than a pandemic stopgap.
“Cracks” by Bendik Giske
Queer Norwegian saxophonist
Bendik Giske distorts his instrument’s
sound with circular breathing
techniques and electronic
processing. While the sax is most
commonly associated with jazz,
Giske creates a new kind of ambient
music. “Flutter” loops his saxophone
so that it sounds like hand
percussion. Working with producer
André Bratten, Gisk layers his
saxophone playing into a droning
background and blows brief riffs in
the foreground. Giske’s use of reverb
and delay pedals isn’t just an
attempt to push his instrument in
a new direction.
His new album “Cracks” was
inspired by the concept of queer
time, as expressed by Jose Esteban
Muñoz’s 2009 book “Cruising
in Utopia.” The homage becomes
explicit with the title of the second
song, “Cruising.” The notion of the
recording studio as an instrument
itself isn’t necessarily radical in
2021, but “Cracks” uses it to create
a space of possibilities that
wouldn’t exist if he were playing
solo saxophone live. The amount of
echo allows notes to linger for minutes.
Giske nods to the vocabulary
of free jazz greats like Albert Ayler
(especially on “Void”), but uses
Muñoz’s notion that real queerness
can only exist in the future to create
sound design that merges the
human and synthetic into a new
whole.
AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 8,26 2021 | GayCityNews.com
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