Velvet Penny and the dark cinema / beautiful surreal safe space of "All the Flowers"

 

"Live with me / I'll provide everything you need..."

It is always interesting when something is sideways and beautiful at the same time. When absorbing it's artfulness you feel unsteady on your feet. "All the Flowers", the title track from Velvet Penny's upcoming debut album, is one such piece of art. The song, "dedicated to preventing and healing domestic violence", open's with pushed dissonance, scattered sounds, flicks, cats on piano keys, bending strings, the stuff of nightmares or Blumhouse movies but as songwriter Marlena Martinez sings, "Live with me / I'll provide everything you need..." you feel curtains pulling back. Violins, acoustic guitar and what sounds like a standup bass shifts the song and as lush orchestrations fill almost every space, the tonal shift has changed dramatically. 

Velvet Penny is the project name, musical moniker of Marlena Martinez and possesses a voice stirred in folk and jazz simultaneously and when she sings:

"I have lived and died with you / yes, that much we did do / when we did cut our roots / If there's one thing I know-- a vase is not a home / when the water's brewing trouble / all the time"

you do feel transported back in time or maybe side stepped into another universe of sorts. You feel pain but it is tempered by a surreal sense of pure escapism. It feels highly cinematic with peaks of animation coming in. I thought of a scattered, varied cast of image makers from Germaine Dulac to Alejandro Jodorowsky to Bob Fosse to Wes Anderson to Walt Disney and an equally varied cast of sound makers from Flamingo Shadow to Unknown Mortal Orchestra to Brian Wilson to Rodgers and Hammerstein, sprinkled with St. Vincent and Jonny Greenwood. It is all so dreadfully beautiful and moving, maybe the kind of place you go to when trauma waits outside your door (figuratively or literally).

'Organizer at the Intersection of Activism, Wellness & Art', singer-songwriter, musician, artist, Marlena Martinez, known as Velvet Penny has a lot going on and you can learn more about her via her website. 

-Robb Donker Curtius 

  

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM

https://velvetpenny.com/

https://www.instagram.com/velvetpennymusic/

https://www.youtube.com/@VelvetPenny/playlists

https://velvet-penny.bandcamp.com/merch/limited-edition-flexi-disc-vinyl-zine


Art Rock weaving through elements of folk & jazz.

Velvet Penny, cinematic, folk, jazz, orchestrations, theatrical, tropicalia, art pop, art rock, surreal safe space, escapist, singer songwriter, artist, organizer, wellness,