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Maryam Qudus, a first-generation Afghan American child of working-class immigrant parents, apologized for responding to me via email only a few days after I tried to make contact. She’d been busy, no doubt.
“One of the things I enjoy most in the world is holing up in the studio and playing with synthesizers,” Qudus affirmed.
Spacemoth is her artistic identity, a vehicle with which she has collaborated in the studio with Thao Nguyen and mxmtoon, as well as produced for Sour Widows. But despite her impressive resume, no one knew how expansive Qudus’ No Past No Future record would be.
I’m a witness to its live experience. Whoa! Spacemoth’s set at The Rickshaw Stop, an evening-time indoor performance that was part of the Outside Lands Music Festival, was the kind of audio-visual experience that can only be fully received live, in order to get the full thwack.
I’m talking screeching audio tape loops, sound reverb, hellfire cosmic lo-fi bedlam, all working in concert with one another. It delivered imaginative astral-pop feelings that teeter between opaque Bowie moments and synth-pop Berlin creations.
Breathtaking.
“The visual aspect of a show has always been so important to me and I am lucky to have collaborated with visual artist Stephanie Kuse, who helped bring the live show to another level,” stated Qudus, who opened for Spellling on tour this fall. She said recent performance experiences have been, “pretty incredible.” She’s been opening up for other artists a fair amount and, “seeing a line of new fans at the merch table buying a record after hearing my music for the first time has been one of the most heart-warming and life-affirming aspects of playing shows.”
Get Spacemoth’s music here.
