With the release of the new single Enmeshed, Fredericton musician Simon Boudreau broadens the creative path of his project Cross Orchid to reveal a wealth of new inspiration.
Matt Carter
Fredericton musician Simon Boudreau has begun sharing a new series of recordings as Cross Orchid. The project originally started in 2020 with the release of Wilting Pulses of Heat. This six song album combines elements of electronic music, post-punk, and alternative rock to create a texture-rich sound experiment that defies any specific categorization, never really leaning too far in one direction or the other.
For this latest series of recordings, Boudreau shifts Cross Orchid’s original sound towards a darker, more electronic focus removing guitars and vocals completely to make way for a deep dive into the field of horror-core.
“I’d describe horror-core as being a form of hardcore electronic [music] that fuses industrial, noise, and glitch, with either drum n bass or breakcore,” said Boudreau. “My attraction to this sound is most likely due to its alternative or darker nature. I went into the writing process with artists inspiring me such as Machine Girl, Health, .clipping, Sophie, JPEGMAFIA, the new Flume mixtape and most importantly, Dylan Brady’s production style, of 100 gecs fame.”
The series’ first release, Enmeshed, begins in familiar loop territory before diverting into a series of layered transformations that form the tracks crescendo/diminuendo structure while continuing to hold true to the initial melodic theme.
“Enmeshed is definitely the most radio-friendly of the three electronic singles I’m releasing this month,” said Boudreau. “The purpose was to set some sort of tone for the other two tracks that are a lot more industrial and glitchy, and probably a bit more fitting to the horror-core theme.”
The following tracks, Constrictor and Black Ink, released over the past few weeks, definitely align closer to what audiences should expect from a genre called Horror-Core. Both tracks are ferocious compositions, each working to generate a growing sense of uncertainty through changes in feel, unexpected stops and of course, dark tones.
Boudreau plans to continue releasing new music in the later half of the summer with a collection of remixes and an reimagining of his Cross Orchid debut.
“I have past works that I’m re-mixing and re-releasing in August that are more house inspired, but those are kind of fun one-offs that I had previously intended to release under the artist name, Flare Sector,” said Boudreau. “Following those releases, I’m hoping I can somehow combine sounds from the first EP that are much more post-punk and desolate, with the glitchy electronic production of the singles that are being released this month. The track Tropane was basically the beginning of chasing that sound journey last year, trying to combine bass synth wobbles over a noise punk track. I’m also going into the future writing process with live shows heavily in mind.”
Boudreau also promises a “release heavy” summer before taking some time to concentrate on a new album.
“Some music videos for past tracks might get released during that wait time, but that could take from a few months to a year.”
Cross Orchid | BANDCAMP | INSTAGRAM
