PREMIERE | Suzanne Bonifacio, "Condense"
Leaves, life, love & Buffalo pop star Suzanne Bonifacio; press photo courtesy of FRENCHPRESSLEY.
At risk of being altruistic, general or making a blanketed statement — it is safe to say that we as a worldly body of people are experiencing a deep unconscious to conscious degree of sadness. Stowed away in our domiciles away from the exclusion zone that has become our formerly familiar planet, we are left to our own devices and minimized means of mobility in conjunction with restrictive movements and other mandates in accordance to COVID safety procedurals. We are either kept far away from loved ones, or have the double edged dubious fortune to be in a proverbial home pod with family, friends significant other, etcetera. From here the micro irritants mutate into macro agitations, as work regiments are adjusted and looming uncertainties are exacerbated from the limitless doom scrolls of poisonous social media feeds to the shallow noise of lackluster home streaming networks. As the former world we once knew well becomes more compact, compartmentalized into the ultra-tight constraints of an apartment; all ventures that we once embarked upon elsewhere are now largely executed and produced from our respcetive humble homes.
All this and more is featured on the debut of Suzanne Bonifacio’s sublime, sinewy and psychic sensationalism single "Condense". Formerly of Space Cubs, the Buffalo, NY artist’s latest solo work concerns the mind to body exercises and praxis of thought with a sound that echoes the claustrophobic qualities associated with the quarantine. Coursing narrowly through the labyrinthine mazes of thought, Suzanne sings shuddering melodic breaths of relatable lost slipstream paths of an overactive consciousness working on overtime. A track that only could have been created out of lockdown conditions, Bonifacio expertly applies a type of suffocating effect to the haunting track of echoes and a poetic lyrical yoga progression. Overdubs of Suzanne’s voice rain down each audio channel as wailing siren calls as all of a sudden the track progresses to the next movement two minutes and thirty-five seconds in. The head swimming circular electric chord strums and loops are treated to the bass thumping heartbeat rhythms that centers the second half of “Condense”. This provides a central jumping point for all of Suzanne’s mesmerizing arrangements of paranormal styled vocals and serious tones that exhibit a severe case of cabin fever.
Suzanne shared the following exclusive thoughts about the inception and inspirations that guided the creation and ethereal economies of “Condense”:
Lost in a punch to my psyche. I feel it might be telling me. This song started a couple of years ago. Both my partner and I were feeling a low point one evening, just feeling life, really. We were in separate rooms and he was playing guitar and I was reflecting or maybe letting my mind go in sad cycles, one of the two [laughs]. I felt a moment of inspiration and wrote the first half of “Condense” to his muffled guitar part through the door to the next room, reflecting on how life keeps going as I sit, so static and condense what I’ve done in my life so far. I then rushed in and recorded his parts and mine that evening. I sort of reworked it and changed things over some time, but didn’t come back to it till a few months ago when making the second half.
The whole thing sort of became a reflection of feeling a slave to my mind and then branched off into an experience I had during meditation when the prompt had been to use a body part as an anchor for pulling back to the present moment and out of my thoughts, feeling that body part from the inside out, remembering where I was. Feeling my feet really helped me to do that, where I could just be with them and eventually, my whole self. After those exercises, I then found myself reflecting on my journey with them (my feet telling me too long) and how life gets tiring sometimes, but if I could just come back to my feet for a moment and remember that I’m right here, that this could be enough.
Suzanne Bonifacio’s "Condense" will be available everywhere May 14. Keep up with Suzanne Bonifacio here.