Indie Rock
Independent
2024
As Apacalda, Montreal’s Cassandra Angheluta uses music to address and process dark and difficult subjects. The outstanding music videos complement the moody and intense arrangements
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Last week (November 22), Montreal artist Apacalda released her latest single “Dead Weight”. It was my first time hearing her music, and it stopped me cold. This is intense, dark and heavy, both musically (wait for it) and lyrically. At first it reminded me of the Cowboy Junkies’ cover of Sweet Jane, but that impression didn’t last. It’s a beast of a song and video.
Let it play, though it’s distressing as hell:
That’s simple and effective, and the visuals are as stressful and unsettling as the lyrics. In interviews, Apacalda (aka Cassandra Angheluta) talks about watching a friend with addiction problems, and obviously that’s only scratching the surface of the trauma described in the song.
“Dead Weight” is not an outlier for Apacalda. “She’s Not Coming”, from October of this year, is about a deeply religious woman choosing to take her own life: “She’s not coming home/Salt stings her skin/In the high noon sun/Holding on to her cross unaware“. The video for that one, directed by Montreal-based filmmaker Mailis (whose website is full of equally impressive work) was shot in Georgia (the country, not the state). It’s beautiful and wildly ambitious:
Angheluta has been releasing music as Apacalda since 2020, and though her catalog is limited, it’s full of creative and dynamic arrangements and fearless lyrics addressing serious themes. Here’s “Male Gaze”, from her 2022 self-titled EP. The music video for this one (also directed by Mailis) feels like an extended trailer for a terrifying film.
In this interview with (the impeccably-titled) It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine, she talks about how addressing difficult themes through her music allows her freedom that she may not otherwise have:
It is challenging to process difficult situations in life and I feel a sense of protection under the veil of creation. I feel like I am able to address things that would otherwise be hard to speak about.
“Protection under the veil of creation” it’s a terrific way to phrase what bold artists do, and bold is an apt description of Angheluta’s art.
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