Her bold, radical voice is an intentional act on the confines of stereotypes. Seemingly disparate, often deliciously dissonant and tension-filled, polyrhythmic electronic sonic scapes. A selection of 15 songs culled from a two-year, 500 microsong project, The Pantry of Salt and Sugar offers raw sonic pastiches, each serving as a touchpoint for universal themes of tragedy, confusion, loss and love. Musical selections range from 1 minute to four-minute pieces, each its own vignette that brings unique imagery and color to form abstract canvases for the ear.
Artist Madame Dolores, who is a first generation immigrant and multiracial female composer and performer, after the 2017 inauguration, took to her phone not to tweet, but to compose music, wherein she generated deep, electronically soulful and discordant music chronicling her socio-emotional reflections on present-day America.
States Madame Dolores: “My morning ritual became to pick up my iPhone and compose spontaneous micro-songs – all music, lyrics and vocals are improvised responses to my past, present, and future selves.”
The results are a channel stream of consciousness, an emotional bloodletting and paradigm shift for personal survival during these tumultuous times. What began as a micro- song project has evolved into full on electro-compositions triggered by memories, encounters, reflections and experiences beyond politics. Influenced by her love of horror films and Euro film noir, science fiction and musical genres ranging from Avant Garde jazz, Funk, 1960’s soundtracks, performance art and punk rock, Madame Dolores’ love of beats, movement and layering of sound, along with her earthy, intense vocals lift each song to its own suspenseful precipice, leaving the listener wondering what’s next in the Pantry. Will it be salty, or sugary?
With less than 10% of music having been created by a woman, Madame Dolores’ strong stance for female artists is present in her musical works as well as her visual art and curatorial practice. Called “Nina Hagen meets Sun Ra” by her producer, Kevin Reynolds out of Los Angelese, her art riffs on heavy, dark polyrhythms that become an abstract canvas for the ear. The album features the sonic magic of Producer, Kevin Reynolds from Los Angeles and Pittsburgh’s own beloved Producer of deep beats, Soy Sos.
Her first released single, Killing Patterns video was featured as part of Alisha Wormsley and Ricardo Iamuuri’s Public Art work at Market Square, Streaming Space. The Killing Patterns video was created by students from Penn State.
From The Pantry of Salt and Sugar, standout songs include “Land of the Shrinking Hearts,” “Still Lonely, in a Crowd” and “I Don’t Belong to No Country.” Madame Dolores currently performs vocals in Indigenous Resistance and Qlitterati, is an artist member of the #notwhitecollective, and has a traveling exhibition “The Book of White People.”