{"id":1957015,"date":"2025-08-13T00:12:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1957015"},"modified":"2025-08-13T00:12:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:12:40","slug":"recent-music-drops-prove-cross-genre-creative-power-of-okc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/recent-music-drops-prove-cross-genre-creative-power-of-okc\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent music drops prove cross-genre creative power of OKC"},"content":{"rendered":"

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OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 There\u2019s been a lot of talk in recent years about whether or not Oklahoma City has a definable or singular sound that can be pointed to as the city\u2019s trademark or musical identity.<\/p>\n

But for my money, one of the best things about this scene is its almost stubborn refusal to become easily boxed into a single sound or identity, producing instead a consistent roster of genre-mashing, style-crossing creatives that embrace this city\u2019s open-ended character and craft releases that openly shirk simple categories.<\/p>\n

In fact, three of the most interesting and intricately produced style-mixers in the scene are all dropping genre-defying new releases, with long-anticipated new offerings from lush, art-pop songsmith Brandon Birdwell, alt-folk jammers Compost Adjacent, and multicultural, multi-sonic musical mastermind Sun Deep.<\/p>\n

Brandon Birdwell \u2013 \u2018Songs That a Ghost Might Like\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first extended follow-up to last year\u2019s emotionally revelatory \u201cHow Have I Let You Down?<\/a>,\u201d the brand new \u201cSongs That a Ghost Might Like\u201d EP sees Birdwell on the other side of all those hard questions and raw realizations.<\/p>\n

This time around, he\u2019s focused less on re-litigating his past and more on reconsidering his future, specifically how his music, his art, and his pursuits of happiness all fit into his coming years.<\/p>\n

Brandon Birdwell (from Apple Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When he sings \u201cI write songs that a ghost might like,\u201d he\u2019s not just talking about the airy tack piano melodies or the wispy, wintery production swirling around his voice. He\u2019s confronting the fleeting and finicky realities of success and the possibility that he\u2019ll never find the kind of recognition or admiration that everyone is so busy chasing.<\/p>\n

As his voice and its accompaniment reach and swell, he offers \u201cgive up my ghost,\u201d an attempt to lay down that burden of chasing recognition and to make peace with making his music just for himself and whatever ghosts happen to find it down the years.<\/p>\n

The whole record is full of similar unburdenings, with Birdwell aimed at shrinking his world and narrowing his focus to his own life, loves, and crafts, rather than getting swept up in the currents that led to the last album\u2019s reflections of guilt.<\/p>\n

This time, it\u2019s all positive steps, from the washing away of troubles on \u201cIt\u2019s Colder Outside than I\u2019d Like\u201d to the embrace of ephemeral emotion and transient time on lead single \u201cHigh Low,\u201d sounding even more joyous here as a centerpiece among the more subdued and atmospheric tracks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSongs That a Ghost Might Like EP\u201d artwork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout, the lush orchestrations and inspired production of Birdwell and frequent collaborator Michael Trepangier weave and wind like the ghosts of the title, building each track into a textural experiment of guitars, synths, pianos, and layered vocals, but never ignoring Birdwell\u2019s knack for effective pop songwriting.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a powerful collection of tracks already, but it feels appropriately tailored to rediscovering and revisiting again and again over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSongs That a Ghost Might Like EP\u201d by Brandon Birdwell is available on streaming services now.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more, follow @brandonbirdwell<\/a> on Instagram.<\/em><\/p>\n

Compost Adjacent \u2013 \u2018Junebug\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With a quick, clicking count off and a big-chord fanfare, art-folk alt-jammers Compost Adjacent kick in the doors on their long-awaited debut EP, announcing themselves properly to a city that\u2019s already seen sporadic singles and lauded gigs from the group over the past couple years.<\/p>\n

On \u201cJunebug,\u201d \u2013 dropping Friday, August 15th<\/sup> \u2013 they\u2019re finally fully formed, running with the EP\u2019s longer, larger canvas and pulling out all the folky stops, from guitar-battering acoustic strums and gang vocal harmonies to moments of ethereal calmness and spoken-word poetry.<\/p>\n

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Compost Adjacent (provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Compost Adjacent wield all the tools and instrumentation of Appalachian alt-folk, but with the energy and approach of an experimental jam band. There are touches of high-wire prog-rock and a well-tuned messiness that casts off any comparisons to the clean, suspendered, \u201chey ho\u201d-ing folk revivalists in favor of bare feet and dirty overalls.<\/p>\n

Singer\/guitarist Ryan Smith, in a press statement alongside the release, said that the band sequenced \u201cJunebug\u201d like a weekend. Gatecrasher \u201cNo. 7\u201d rides in on a wave of fun and Friday night wildness and then slowly gives way to the psych-rock contemplations and cinematically bowed basslines of \u201cDropping Gypsum\u201d and closer \u201cAddict,\u201d like Sunday morning coming down.<\/p>\n

Lead single and centerpiece \u201cSilly Boy Prance,\u201d then, is the perfect, propulsive Saturday, a driving folk-rock bop with summery guitar leads that might just be covering up something darker and seedier underneath.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJunebug EP\u201d artwork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They\u2019ve already been a band to watch for awhile now, but this EP puts Compost Adjacent firmly on the map for OKC.<\/p>\n

\u201cJunebug EP\u201d by Compost Adjacent drops on streaming services Friday, August 15th<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bookish will host the band for a full release show on Saturday, August 16th<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more, follow @compostadjacent<\/a> on Instagram.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sun Deep \u2013 \u2018Ghar\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After years of waiting, teasing, and occasionally dropping a single here and a video there, we\u2019re finally getting the new full-length album from Sun Deep, maybe Oklahoma\u2019s most singular and surprising songwriter.<\/p>\n

Known for rapping in Hindi and for co-creating the multilingual, spiritual hip-hop outfit Finite Galaxy, Sun Deep has been continuously building a body of work all his own over the past few years, and \u201cGhar\u201d \u2013 hitting streamers Friday, August 15th<\/sup> \u2013 feels like a culmination.<\/p>\n

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Sun Deep (from Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like a curtain rising, \u201cUlfat\u201d opens things up with a bold, dramatic piano before picking up the pace into an unfolding lo-fi soul jam.<\/p>\n

From there, all bets are pretty much off, as you never know if each next track will feature the deep synths and shimmering leads of \u201cGhayal,\u201d the disco-funk of \u201cChehra,\u201d or even the early Bon Iver-style acoustic strumming of the title track.<\/p>\n

Standout \u201cHalka Halka\u201d sees its playfully muted guitars and worldbeat percussion explode into a cracking backbeat that sends it into a dancey, body-moving stratosphere.<\/p>\n

Sun Deep\u2019s own vocals shift and morph between rapping and hushed singing throughout, all held together and made deeply, palpably personal by his Hindi language.<\/p>\n

Though many of these tracks have appeared as singles in the past couple years (with \u201cFirst Light\u201d even scoring awards and high-level placements with its fantastic Qazi Islam-directed video,) everything works even better in the context of \u201cGhar\u201d as a full piece.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGhar\u201d album artwork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sun Deep\u2019s energy pops more fully than ever when presented across ten tracks, showcasing his full scope of stylistic synergy and sonic playfulness, covering practically all the ground there is to cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhar\u201d is an immediate highlight of the year for OKC music.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhar\u201d by Sun Deep hits streaming services on Friday, August 15th<\/sup>, but is available in full right now on Bandcamp<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Soundbar on Automobile Alley will host a full listening party and release event for the album on Saturday, August 16th<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more, follow @sundeep_music<\/a> on Instagram.<\/em><\/p>\n

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You can find out about local music and performance happenings in the OKC metro weekly in this <\/em>music column<\/em><\/a> by Brett Fieldcamp. | Brought to you by <\/em>True Sky Credit Union<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Brett Fieldcamp is our Arts and Entertainment Editor. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for 15+ years, writing for several local and state publications. He\u2019s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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