Salami Rose Joe Louis Shares 'Sugar Coating' From 'Akousmatikous' Album

Lindsay Olsen, aka Salami Rose Joe Louis, today shares new single and video, "Sugar Coating," the latest from her upcoming album, Akousmatikous, out on May 19, 2023 via Brainfeeder. Later this month, her tour kicks off with dates at Zebulon (LA) and Elsewhere (NYC). Full dates are noted below.

"Sugar Coating'' lifts the veil of complacency, the sugar coating in question, off the modern world. A letter of apology to future generations in an attempt to take responsibility for increasing ecological degradation and hoarded wealth. Jazz piano solos scattered throughout with distorted synths add to themes of apocalyptic mania. Lindsay whisper-sings subliminals of both despair and optimism atop wavering keys and a rolling beat.

Lindsay shared the meaning behind the track: "We live in very dark times. As I have been thinking about possibly having children, I wanted to write a song for a future child to explain the state of things to them. How did we get here? Why did we leave them such a world with so many climate problems and social disparities and war?

I think a lot about Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and her vision of Earthseed. I wanted to imagine a message to an offspring that doesn't sugar coat anything, that takes ownership over our mistakes - 'We started losing when we took more than we need' - while also explains the reality of a world in which we don't have much agency as the fate of our planet often is in the hands of a few in power who are consumed by ego and vanity - 'A few unstable guys, with access to all our lives.'

I think it is more of an apology song and a song of mourning for the damage done. I want to find hope and to be optimistic, so I hoped the repeating lyric 'For the plants to grow' could be a seed of thought that we can adapt and change and grow."

Directed by Matt Cowen, with creative direction by Matt Cowen and flatspot_, editing by flatspot_, and costume design by Kiki Stash, Lindsay was initially nervous to make such a heavy song into a music video but she trusted Jamie, aka flatspot_, and Matt with the art and the message. "I was so moved and happy with the beautiful film Jamie and Matt Cowen made," she says. "It was an honor to work with them."

Drawing from her studies in planetary sciences, Olsen creates a unique experience: exploring ideas of multiverses and climate change through the lens of a fictional post-apocalyptic keyboard-toting earthling. Her music traverses experimental pop, abstract beats and bedroom R&B connected by a sci-fi narrative.

New album Akousmatikous (Ah-coooz-mat-e-koi) features collaborations with Brijean (Ghostly International) and Soccer96 (a project from The Comet is Coming's Danalogue and Betamax) plus Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Juuwah, Sergio Machado Plim, Jason Lindner, Dakim, and Dan Nicholls.

Olsen will bring Akousmatikous on the road for a number of West Coast dates, with support from Sandra Lawson-Ndu. Tickets are available HERE.

Photo Credit: Matt Cowen