Deborah Pelser, Sonic Shades (B&W 2024)

"Sonic Shades" is less a portfolio than a live wire strung taut between disparate soundscapes, its black and white imagery turning up the volume on genre-blurring performances. Molly Priest’s presence is magnetic in its ambiguity, their body in motion, mirroring the way Alter Boy defies easy categorisation. The image captures that in-between space where music, identity, and expression coalesce, leaving everything undefined yet fully realised, much like the band itself. Contrast that with the chaotic, unapologetic punk of the King Brothers thrashing it out at Marrickville Bowlo, the kind of set where sweat blurs into the grain of the photo. Kristen Adams stands statuesque, guitar slung low, with rays of light catching the curve of her shoulders, emanating from her head like some kind of sonic deity—frozen mid-riff, she is both the storm and its stillness. And then there's the searing, visceral presence of Mudvayne, their metal onslaught translated into stark contrasts, every scream and riff a jagged edge in black ink. "Sonic Shades" freezes the moment where sound and sight collide, where genre is just another layer to peel away.

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