Vôx Vé releases "Lonely Choir"

"Solo art can be a very solitary pursuit. So this song and its hundred harmonies give voice to my years spent working alone, with no one to talk to but my demons. "

Solitude can be a powerful thing in and of itself, yet it takes some context to give it meaning and direction, and this is the story of a singer and songwriting taking her feelings of solitude and turning them into an uplifting anthem. The Alt-pop artist and producer has drawn comparisons to Låpsley, Sia, BANKS, London Grammar, and others before. Her introspective, thoughtful, and wildly creative sound certainly occupies a spot alongside such vanguardist luminaries actively broadening the horizons of the genre.

Vôx Vé was born and raised in Switzerland, but she moved to the U.S. some time ago to pursue studies in Philosophy at Columbia University, something which is an intrinsic part of her songwriting process as she engages in a bit of an intellectual dissection almost every time she touches upon things such as the meaning of success or happiness as applied to modernity; this very thoughtful look at the human condition in the 21st century turns personal for Vôx as she tackles the topic of loneliness and disconnection in a world that is paradoxically more connected through digital means; working from home right in the middle of the pandemic showed not only just how vulnerable a lot of the systems we surround ourselves with are, but it also exposed just how meaningful every little bit of human contact can be, and how it's absence can cause long-lasting impact in our lives.

Through "Lonely Choir" Vôx takes her most gripping look at solitude yet, elevating herself with epic and nearly bombastic sounds with hints of religious mysticism that lean on the choir aspect quite a bit. In some ways, the myriad of voices seem to contradict the central topic of the song, yet... it still fits, doesn't it? the reverb and distance of it illustrate a deeper sort of loneliness, a form of isolation within society itself, and when we take into account the fact that so many people -especially in cities- were all right next to but also cut off from each other during the pandemic, all simultaneously experiencing roughly the exact same phenomenon, that is when I feel that the lyrics and the production really come into their own to make a really special track.

There's more to "Lonely Choir" than just the solitude brought about by the pandemic, and Vôx confesses that serious artistic pursuits can be just as isolating, often leading to sacrifices for the sake of a dream that -at times- may seem unrealistic at best, not to mention that it gets tangled up with our materialistic -and often narcissistic- view o what success means in any field, especially in music. "With a dose of dark humor and cathedral reverb, it questions whether these sacrifices were misguided-" says Vôx "...and whether my values of ambitious individualism were the wrong ones –conditioned by a culture that over-emphasizes individual success, and under-emphasizes human connection as the most powerful condition of happiness." This is, I think, is where the greatness of the song lies, in the meeting of that socially-learned impulses with that of the creative will seeking to make lasting beauty.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Samuel Aponte is Venezuelan-born raised and based. 

I joined Rival Magazine after a few years of doing PR work for independent musicians of all stripes; understanding their struggles to be heard in a sea of constant  ADHD noise and paywalled access to platforms, I now bring a willingness to always appreciate and encourage the effort and creativity that artists put into their work . Can also find some of my writings on LADYGUNN and We Found New Music.