WL//WH Premiere CONG JOSIE
Cong Josie is the hedonistic alter-ego, (and anagram) of Melbourne-based Nic Oogjes, best known as the bandleader of no-wave and post-punk-influenced ‘Heat Beat’ body-music ensemble NO ZU. Nicolaas says inhabiting the Cong character allows him to plunge the depths of his psyche and drag forth what he finds there – beyond the real and into hyper-reality. The distance between Nicolaas‘ ‘true-self’ and Cong oscillates wildly between stark truth and absolute fiction. A character of mystery and contradiction, he both inhabits the archetype of ‘the singer’; peacocking masculinity, while simultaneously tearing his own sense of what it means to be masculine apart.
WL//WH is very pleased to premiere the compelling Giallo Horror-themed video clip, directed by Hayden Somerville, filmed on location in Cong’s mind during one of his nightly fever dreams and featuring the ghostly presence of his band, The Crimes, for the new track “Margarita”, taken from Cong Josie’s third double A-side single, “Margarita / He’s My Baby”, as part of the upcoming debut album scheduled for release on October 2021 via Melbourne independent label It Records.
Like the missing link between Cong‘s first single, the industrial slammer, “Leather Whip”, and the Lynchian heart-on-sleeve balladry of second single, “Persephone”, “Margarita” makes its own space on the dancefloor and main-lines direct to the heart, laced with devotional lyrics that give praise to the “love at first sight” meeting of a heavenly Margarita and the rollercoaster ride of emotions that soon follow.
A cool electric glow hums underneath the heavy, dangerous buzzing bass throbs, as the angsty atmospheric Cong’s vocals layer high-strung breathless emotions with nervous inner declarations of fear, amid soft yet obsessive disembodied Katie Bishop’s siren whispers, echoing through intoxicating textures of hissing shakes, lashing whips, and Johnny Cayn’s warm skronkin sax melodies to blow modern urgent restlessness into an entanglement of light searing guitar strings and startling keyboard stabs.
A dizzying camera work by Hayden Somerville spins 360 degrees of madness through a nightmare dreamscape. Dark, subconscious dimensions breed nightly fever dreams for a troubled soul whose deepest fears and desires weave universal symbols of dread through surreal perceptions to elicit both anxiety and humour. Rhinestone cowboys, occultist maniacs, and a soul-less zombie girlfriend are just some of the characters haunting our tragic hero as he drives a sparkling Harley Davidson motorcycle through the absurd catacombs of the human mind.
Keep up with Cong Josie: