"what is a toddler to a kitchen cabinet / your tough love was like a hammer chewing up on granite..."
"Hard Candy" by Photokem, a divergent five-piece outfit of 20-22 year old students at the University of Texas at Austin [comprised of Nana Acheampong (vocals), Leah Blom (violin), Nico Fennell (instrumentals / production), Jack Kelly (instrumentals), and Evan Ryckebusch (cello/bass)] is a stunning sonic drama that feels like something between a song, spoken word and performance art and I suppose it is an amalgam of all three disciplines. As you listen, to the emotional, percolating music that feels innate and intimate, expansive and elegantly raw it defines Acheampong's resonant vocal aesthetic (or vice versa). His sonic countenance is sinewy, brooding, passionate and so commanding. Like a stage play actor's voice setting words in stone, "I miss you too but I'm a pain to be beside right now / can't keep nothing down when I'm talking / you'd hate the way that I'm talking / Leila, Leila, Leila...", you want to fully understand the story he is painting even if you cannot begin to.
So very captivating, melancholy, moody as tension grows like a morning sunrise. "Hard Candy" is from Photokem's debut EP "Luffon Bright" that dropped on May 6th (2022).
-Robb Donker Curtius
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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.instagram.com/photokemband/
https://photokem.bandcamp.com/releases
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6XRrtLC2c2ZlvthoVyYEDo?si=9qmTVZZXThGmYiiMtnhq5Q&dl_branch=1&nd=1
https://www.facebook.com/photokemband
Photokem is a five-piece band of 20-22 year old students at the University of Texas at Austin, consisting of Nana Acheampong (vocals), Leah Blom (violin), Nico Fennell (instrumentals / production), Jack Kelly (instrumentals), and Evan Ryckebusch (cello/bass). The band came together in the early half of 2021, joining with Acheampong after reading a work of his prose in UT’s Black Print publication and knowing him to have a singular, powerful voice. Prior to their forming, none of the members had recorded music before, and Acheampong had never even sang publicly. Their first efforts have spawned a raw, instinctive sound. Despite being less than a year old, Photokem has already begun to make a name for themselves in the Austin area, playing to a number of full rooms, including the historic Antone’s Nightclub. The band records entirely at home, primarily using microphones hand-made by Ryckebusch’s father.
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We get by with a little help from our friends
Photokem, University of Texas, Austin, 5 piece band, spoken word, post punk, art rock, avant pop, avant rock, "Hard Candy", lead singer, artist Nana Acheampong, poet,
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