{"id":29937,"date":"2019-10-31T15:30:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T19:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=29937"},"modified":"2019-10-31T01:45:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T05:45:06","slug":"review-bhuman-bmovie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/review-bhuman-bmovie\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: BHuman Has Landed With Intergalactic Queer Concept LP BMovie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>B movie sci-fi and horror flicks are special kinds of charmers. <em>The Blob<\/em> (1958), <em>It Came from Outer Space<\/em> (1953),<em> Plan 9 from Outer Space<\/em> (1959) and <em>War of Planets<\/em> (1966), among countless others, all possess a particular aesthetic: delightfully outlandish. Certainly in the 1950s and \u201860s, such bizarre fantasies and their bloated space creatures cloaked a very real, tangible paranoia that spread like wildfire. The world was in the throes of the Cold War, and the art of cinema was vital for the collective cathartic release.<\/p>\n<p>Brooklyn alt-pop duo BHuman \u2500 comprised of Billie Lloyd and Harrison Scott \u2500 excavate a smorgasbord of cosmic energies and classic b movie imagery to plot a concept record that dissects identity, self-discovery and alienation as queer folk. The aptly-titled <em>BMovie<\/em> is structured \u201cto be almost a fictional movie soundtrack that reveals itself through the song and tracklist,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/music.allaccess.com\/an-interview-with-the-queer-pop-group-bhuman-on-new-music-their-upcoming-ep-bmovie-and-more\/\">says Scott<\/a>. <em>BMovie<\/em> comes on the heels of a self-titled EP released earlier this year, signaling big things for the prolific duo. The LP is raw, honest and relevant &#8211; a treasure trove of electro-pop that is unafraid to be bold and drive the narrative forward. Billie Lloyd and Harrison Scott are the kind of innovative thinkers that could be total game changers for pop music.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/27UG6w9DDUP2txZxItKUqO\" width=\"300\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The effervescence fizzes right from the start \u2500 \u201cStrange Things (Overture)\u201d pops the lid with a kooky soundbite: \u201cI saw a flying saucer\u2026\u201d Though the songs focus on the innate human desire to love and be loved, quirky production choices inspired by cult films and television gives every song an eerie kitsch.<\/p>\n<p>On \u201cMelt,\u201d BHuman&#8217;s synth-filtered forms dissipate into pitter-patters of percussion and other sticky distortions that feel so peculiar its easy yo get lost in their haze. The lyrics reflect that liquid, permeable feeling; \u201cI know that you\u2019re scared \/ I feel it, too \/ Maybe I\u2019ll just melt right into you,\u201d the duo vow on one of the album\u2019s most immediate hooks. Their boldness in composition and vocal performance is always the appropriate amount of strange and never appears so left field as to ward off potential fans. In fact, it\u2019s their aloofness that is most compelling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther Way\u201d (soon to have its own <em>Carrie<\/em>-inspired music video) emerges with a radio-ready earworm of a chorus that cribs <em>The X-Files<\/em> theme song. Distant samples come back like lost transmissions from outerspace (&#8220;You didn&#8217;t actually believe you were the only inhabited planet in the universe?&#8221;) as Lloyd coos, &#8220;I guess what they say is true that \/ Things find you when you\u2019re looking the other way.\u201d Here, the surreal subtext elevates the relatively common pop trope of finding love in an unexpected place.<\/p>\n<p>Their blip-bent version of Cher\u2019s \u201cBelieve\u201d is also a marvel to witness. A marching band washes in sharp waves beneath their vocals, which almost seem detached and cold, as if cast in ice, yet they remain quite evocative. In the video, Scott assumes the role of Mulder to Lloyd&#8217;s Scully (again referencing <em>The X-Files<\/em> and giving an altogether different context to the word &#8220;Believe&#8221;), as well as an intergalactic odd couple.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fBTNDoYiSjI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDistraction,\u201d meanwhile, is slathered with hip-hop shimmer, and its less linear melody underscores the aching mood writhing across their bedroom carpet. \u201cFiction\u201d draws from a similar musical wellspring, employing handclaps and clicks to heighten its intensity, and builds upon the emotional framework. \u201cBaby boy has got this mad ambition \/ But it\u2019s all lies and contradictions,\u201d they weep. The web of lies into which they\u2019ve fallen becomes nearly unconquerable, but in shedding the stark truth, they wiggle free and soar into a liberating glow. \u201cMaterializations (Intermission)\u201d is a glittering reprieve and sets the more polished tone of the second half. \u201cI May Never Know\u201d bounces along neon-colored synths and teases that they\u2019ve finally come to accept heartache (\u201cIf your love is gone, I can let it be\u201d) and embrace who they were always meant to become.<\/p>\n<p>Their story comes to a crescendo on the one-two punch of \u201cCreator (Interlude)\u201d &#8211; which makes reference to 1953\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Gfq49xXbTIA\"><em>Glen or Glenda<\/em><\/a>, starring Ed Wood (also the director), a docudrama about crossing-dressing and transsexuality &#8211; and \u201cTeachmehowtobeyourgirl,\u201d perhaps the set\u2019s most vulnerable moment. Lloyd sings candidly on the pressures she experiences as a trans woman in relationships, striking a timely core: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be ashamed \/ Your love for me is not so wrong \/ You just weren\u2019t raised that way.\u201d Juxtaposed with the Ed Wood snippets, it&#8217;s easy to see why Lloyd and Scott are so drawn to tales of alien invasion hysteria; modern society still has a long way to go to fully accept those in the LGBTQ community, but BHuman confront the world that still sees them as \u201cfreaks,\u201d destroys any and all preconceptions, and move one step closer to finally feeling comfortable in their skin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>B movie sci-fi and horror flicks are special kinds of charmers. The Blob (1958), It Came from Outer Space (1953), Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) and War of Planets (1966), among countless others, all possess a particular aesthetic: delightfully outlandish. Certainly in the 1950s and \u201860s, such bizarre fantasies and their bloated space creatures [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":29938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[573,202],"tags":[9153,9154,32,4239,659,9155,8616],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/BHuman-BMovie-02.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29939,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29937\/revisions\/29939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}