Nate Utesch is a musician/composer and visual artist known for his albums covers for Phoebe Bridgers and Weezer. With his long-running electronic/post-rock project Metavari he recently reimagined the project’s 2009 debut full length album Be One of Us and Hear No Noise as Soft Continuum (due out June 10, 2022 via Joyful Noise Recordings) dedicated to the life and memory of founding member and bassist Ty Brinnerman (1981-2020). The single “Kings Die Like Other Men (Rediscovery)” was recently released with a music video depicting medieval knights in battle like something out of an updated John Boorman film. Unlike the usual historical drama this movie ends abruptly with the death of the leader and with a slight rewind back to the action. This version of the song, the opening track of the 2009 album, is all electronic and moody, giving an air of triumph cut short with an outro of melancholic acceptance like the end credits of Excalibur but with a soundtrack like something right out of the library music tradition—surreal and cut out of immediate and obvious cultural references crafted to be more universal in appeal long term. After all kings do die like other men and most often in a less than exalted and glorious a fashion than culture and myth would like to convey for posterity. And rather than some lengthy work extolling the fabricated virtues of the nobility this song is about a third as long as the original. Watch the video for “Kings Die Like Other Men (Rediscovery)” on YouTube and follow Metavari at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
You must be logged in to post a comment.