Atlanta Soundtrack: Somalia, Manchester Orchestra and vintage Subsonics

Manchester Orchestra: “Telepath” (live)

Manchester Orchestra, a Georgia getup named in homage to a town across the pond that bore bushels of bands (The Smiths and Joy Division to name just two), has been going strong since its inception in 2004. And their loyal fanbase has followed along undeterred through many creative evolutions. The more recent move toward linear storytelling via conceptual albums may have stemmed from their cinematic triumph in 2016, scoring the surreal and strange dark comedy Swiss Army Man, starring Daniel Radcliffe as a multi-purpose corpse (and movie title namesake).

That narrative element is crystal clear in the evocative and esoteric lyrics of “Telepath” — lines like, “Everyone I know is slowly falling in the ocean / I don’t want to be the next to row, I never learned to swim.” Singer/guitarist Andy Hull chalks the piece up to “the ebb and flow of lifelong commitment to another person [and] recognizing that even the best relationship in our lives can have extreme ups and downs.”

It’s a stunning, newly released live recording of their third single from last year’s The Million Masks of God, a conceptual album meant to tell one man’s full story, including his final encounter with the angel of death, all in chronological order. It was the group’s first album in four years and their sixth total. This video was filmed live at the Fox Theatre last November, with simple acoustics and a backlit stage, a reverent audience following along out in the darkness.

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Somalia: “Mirror”

Like many a self-assured and powerful woman vocalist before her — Cher, Bjork, Selena, Rihanna — R&B singer/songwriter Somalia Ramin takes to the stage on the force of her first name only. Born to artistic parents in New Jersey, she spent her formative years in Lithonia. With an early knack for singing and acting that started around the age of 10, she was voted “most likely to be famous” in high school. Somalia then pursued a degree in women’s studies from Spelman College, which included three months studying performance in London.

Since graduating in 2018, Somalia has been making her name known across the Atlanta music scene — drawing sonic inspiration from icons like Anita Baker, Missy Elliott and Jill Scott. The video pays homage to iconic fashions and artists across the decades. Of her philosophy toward building a career in the entertainment industry, she told VoyageATL, “I think what I am most proud of is that I’ve stayed true to my sound . . . I don’t get caught up in what’s ‘in style’ or trends. I just write music that makes my soul feel good. If it happens to resonate with someone else, then that means they’re a part of my audience.”

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Subsonics: “Frankenstein”

Over the last few decades, Clay Reed and Buffi Aguero, and a few bass players (currently Rob Delbueno), have earned their indie stripes as artisans of so-called “punkabilly” or ”gutter glam.” The Subsonics origin story is one of those too-good-to-be-made-up yarns. As they tell it, Reed and Aguero first met in a dentist’s office. Reed was there because he broke his teeth on a microphone (as one does). He struck up a conversation with Aguero while they were both sitting in the waiting room, and next thing you know they were landing gigs. Fate rested its case.

In another twist of cosmic luck, especially in Vintage Video of the Week, Reed seems to serve as conduit for another rock ancestor by the same name: Lou, that is, especially from the Velvet Underground era. It’s not their only reference point to that band, though. Aguero has credited Moe Tucker as an influence on her preferred drumming stance: standing up. With lyrics typically centering around misfits and oddballs (take, for example, “Heroin Addict’s Beach Party”), Aguero acknowledged to WABE in late 2021, “We’ve always flown our weirdo flag pretty high.”

In 2019, the band’s enduring popularity among punk, garage and indie circles resulted in the release of a tribute album from the Brazilian garage rock/punk label Mandinga Records. Reed’s tongue-in-cheek reaction to the laundry list of notable bands contributing covers to the effort was pretty perfect: “It’s all very strange and flattering… Our ‘fans’ are frequently ‘people with problems’… alienated and antisocial. So: lots of musicians.” Indeed, the Black Lips once dubbed them the “best band in Atlanta.”