Meet Casey MQ, one of Toronto’s most prolific pioneers in experimental indie music. Presented by Belin's Creamcake, Casey's second self-produced project, aptly titled Nudes, is a lucid dream full of unexpected twists and turns. Like a hazy atmosphere filled with the incense of earthy melodies, Nudes exudes a surprisingly comforting type of idiosyncrasy. Its sonic quirks and transparent lyrics seem a lot more like the real world than reality itself.
The record opens up with the galvanizing sound of a horn summoning a village to congregate on “The Constant”. This village is unlike any other. Its residents, bold and diverse, are the anomalies of society. They are the rebels who don’t conform to any one genre nor mode of social classification. There is one thing that unifies the residents, and it’s the beauty held in their differences. Much like the name of the EP suggests, Nudes is a record about coming to terms with the intrinsic oddities in each other and in ourselves. Tribal drums and starry synths build the song’s aura as Casey chants the village’s mantra: “The Constant is eternal love.”
The tribal rhythm lingers into “Glossy Lips”, a playful rhapsody that serves as the singer’s confident pomp of embracing his soft side. The atmosphere’s delicate nature is sharply contrasted with the jagged textures of “Miss Dalloway”. The obscure sounds of shouting and the robotic narration of a fictional female character is interrupted by Casey’s gently unassuming, but captivating vocals.
We then hear the sound of water rolling furiously into a cave on the hypnotic “Angelorum”. Its heavy hitting percussions awaken listeners’ souls and shake their consciousness like the score of a movie’s most climactic scene. Engulfed in darkness, nighttime passes over the village. The next morning, light beams and soft pastel colours dance across the village on “Between Water”. An impressionistic chimaera, "Between Water"'s vogue-inspired vibes and beatbox repetitions create an aura of complete and utter queerness.
Witness Casey MQ destroy the genre game on Nudes above.
