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Year in Pop: 2016

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Ethereal and the Queer Show

The new sophisticated directions from Ethereal and the Queer Show; photographed by Jade Busan.

The new sophisticated directions from Ethereal and the Queer Show; photographed by Jade Busan.

Dallas by Denton, Texas’s Ethereal and The Queer Show, oka EATQS, have been dropping synth releases for over the past half decade, working in meditative mediums where mystic sensationalism meets a kind of transcendental sensuality. The duo of Juliana Dieterich & Dan Hill ready their most ambitious work yet, with the latest batch of electro enchantment Fairy Super Crystal Blue available now from Noumenal Loom. Continuing to tell the tales from the self-penned pages of their own fairy-tale chapters; EATQS present the world premiere of “InS☉meday Forevr” that provides a warm listen to the duo’s statement of creed and infinite longings.

“InS☉meday Forevr” functions in sparse ways that allows every synth note, effect, and electronically treated vocal from Juliana to have both room, space & air to properly breathe. The result creates something of an out of body experience, as EATQS beckons to the listener to join the duo for a meeting being held behind the curtains of clouds up in the great big vast sky. Juliana and Dan together manifest through fairyland like lyrics (as if emerging from a dream and to the awakened surface) and productions that transports the listener gracefully toward celestial places and sophisticated, secret palaces of balances and a purity unknown to perhaps mortal minds. From here recitations of beliefs from love & magic make for an experience with that sits between the material world and imaginative entrancement of a metaphysical realm hosted by the duo. Dan Hill from Ethereal and the Queer Show joined us for a conversation in the following interview feature.

Describe for us the ephemeral & enchanted inspirations behind the chosen moniker for you two.

I had a dream where the name was told to me. Juli and I were sat down and shown, with flashes of images, a story of ethereal and the queer show, no joke. IRL, over time the meaning has traversed several adaptations and is ultimately open to interpretation. Androgyny, divinity, aliens, angels, perversity, death, sex, taboo tendencies, pataphysics, no rules, no genre.

EATQ's Juliana Dieterich; photographed by Jade Busan.

EATQ’s Juliana Dieterich; photographed by Jade Busan.

We want to know all about what sorts of magic and mayhem went into the making of your Noumenal Loom album, Fairy Super Crystal Blue.

The album was written and recorded at our home using a menagerie of borrowed equipment from the local music community, giving us a small window to record vocals. There was much ebb and flow in the process of making Fairy Super Crystal Blue, being it only Juli and I, the entirety and us both being scorpios, all emotions were present in the construct. Zeal would bleed into emotional exploration, then into exhaustion, and in turn would meld into a humble rebirth of artistic stance.

Can you two also tell us what inspired the name?

The name is a style of circle contact lenses used to enlarge and change the color of the eyes. Also, it accurately represents the character and feel we were aiming for. EATQS hearts fairies too.

'Fairy Super Crystal Blue' album cover created by the prolific multidisciplinary artist Keith Rankin.

‘Fairy Super Crystal Blue’ album cover created by the prolific multidisciplinary artist Keith Rankin.

Describe the sorts of head-spaces and ethereal zones you two were in during the making of tracks like “InS☉meday Forevr” & “Frℯshly x Frℯak♡”.

“InS☉meday Forevr” hints at a world beyond this one where karma is fulfilled and a unification of souls takes place, whatever you want to call that, y’know. “Frℯshly x Frℯak♡” is an exploration of kawaii feels. These songs to us, are about escape, and a plunge into a world of sensory pleasures. ?

What’s good right now in the Dallas scenes these days?

No longer live in Dallas but play occasionally. We are close enough though, staying in Denton, a music college town. But, Dallas Ambient Music Nights are doing amazing things, House of Tinnitus brings techno to Denton. Also,the monthly rave, known as PDA keeps us high. We’ve jumped around quite a bit the last few years, Dallas, Portland, even spent some time in the country for a year living on a ranch.

Undercover & under-wraps with EATQS; press photo courtesy of the artists.

Undercover & under-wraps with EATQS; press photo courtesy of the artists.

Other mediums of art, music, film, literature, etc that you two are in love with right now?

albums like Yukihiro Takahashi’s Neuromantic, Pyrolator’s Wunderland, were inspirations. from Sade to 1080p too many musicians to mention. Authors like Gibson and Murakami, films by Kurosawa, Trier, and Noe, net art, an array of subcultures. Dark and light, nature, Peter Pan, bugs, pictures of tardigrades, underwater life

Spring & summer plan for EATQS?

Collaborate with local and national artists, perform, go camping, seriously, music videos, smile emoticon.

Ethereal and The Queer Show’s new album Fairy Super Crystal Blue is available now from Noumenal Loom.