Tragedy finds its voice

SRSQ is a new project created by Kennedy Ashlyn after the death of her best friend and music collaborator Cash Askew in the tragic 2016 Oakland Ghost Ship fire. Ashlyn transforms her grief and healing into music on SRSQ’s debut Unreality. Comprised of beautiful, haunting vocals paired with frigid synthetic textures, dense arpeggiated chords pose as a backdrop for Ashlyn’s powerful and versatile vocals.

On tracks like “Procession,” Ashlyn’s voice echoes beautifully through a sea of delicate ambient synth layers. The emotional intensity of the singing sears the hair on your face, and even though the reverb and dense overpowering synth layers sometimes muddy the lyrics, you can still feel what the vocals convey. “Mixed Trade” features a great drum machine groove built around Ashlyn’s voice, proving she has a knack for using her voice like one of the synth instruments she surrounds herself with. This adds to the wall of sound that hit your ears and humanizes the cold synthetics of the production. “The Martyr” reinforces this musical aesthetic with its shimmering, ever-evolving synth patches and Ashlyn’s vocal intensity. The 808 drum groove gives the track a nostalgic touch that grounds this highlight.

“No Reason” is a nice change of pace and features more of an industrial, experimental backdrop for Ashlyn’s high register, ghostly singing. This track also features some spoken word which really shows some artistic versatility; it’s just a little too short. “One Only” follows with the drum machine juno pad formula, but it’s a highlight because of the changing song structures and Ashlyn’s vocals which never seem to get boring.

SRQS has risen from tragedy, memories of those passed and the pain of loss. Yet Ashlyn shows her talent with the cohesive and memorable eight-track debut. Ashlyn’s vocals ultimately steal the show and hopefully, she continues to explore different themes and pushes to build on what was achieved with Unreality.