Art often helps artists — and audiences — process loss and grief. Louisville-born music and performance artist ÅNGEL 004 is using their art to help cope with the sale of their childhood home in Goshen. Informed by 27 years of experience in the house, ÅNGEL 004 wrote the song ÅLLSHOUSE.
After the house had been on the market for months with no buyers, ÅNGEL 004 was inspired to try a more creative way to help their family sell the home. They released ÅLLSHOUSE on all music streaming platforms along with a video on their YouTube channel.
The lyrics of ÅLLSHOUSE were inspired by “a fantasy of a confident, high-status passerby who sees the house and decides to approach the home, demanding ‘whose house is this?’ in hopes to find the buyer and purchase the house on the spot.”
The music composed by David Jester hybridizes hyperpop and electro lounge. ÅNGEL 004 sings with a storytelling cadence and raps with an old school flow. This is not their first song that takes an experimental approach to accessible pop — their previous single HORSE TORNÅDO was similarly infectious.
Their song styling is not the only way in which ÅNGEL 004 is accessible. The music video for ÅLLSHOUSE is American Sign Language (ASL) friendly, with lyrics translated by Seattle-based ASL coach Brittany Rupik. ÅNGEL 004 incorporates signs into their choreography in an effort to be inclusive of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.
The music video was filmed only moments before ÅNGEL 004 permanently moved away from home to begin a tour of the West Coast of the U.S. The video splices cinematography by David Jester with drone videography by Carl Armijo as it follows ÅNGEL 004 along the spacious floor plan of the 6,800-square-foot house.
“My father was so proud of this home and so many people who have needed a safe place to go have resided here over its lifetime (including myself),” ÅNGEL 004 says. “Most people who have been on the property can tell you, the energy is special there.”
They share some of the lore of the home. The property has been struck by lightning at least three times. “When my father bought the property, the original basement part of the house was literally a pit of snakes that had to be cleared out. I have no doubt the house is waiting for the perfect buyer. It will choose them.”
The home is still for sale and can be found on Zillow.
This article appears in Jul 3-16, 2024.