Mike Vorpal’s new single Q, taken from his debut solo EP Memes, pulses with a dark wave heartbeat that feels equal parts noir poetry and dissonance. Streaky guitars and feverish energy drive the track forward—not asking for your attention but demanding it.
With Memes, the Portland-based artist peels back the slick surface of modernity to reveal something raw and visceral. Across six tracks, he blends post-punk, grunge, darkwave, and shoegaze into a sonic storm of distortion, dread, and poetic disillusionment. Q stands as a striking entry point into this world, embodying the EP’s descent into the subconscious, where glitchy memories blur with restless emotion.
Vorpal’s strength lies in his ability to build layered sonic textures without losing raw emotional weight. His detached yet charged vocals sound like a narrator watching the world collapse through a cracked screen, capturing both alienation and strange comfort. Memes aren’t about clarity—it’s about being lost, and Q encapsulates that perfectly.
Q proves Mike Vorpal is not just making music for headphones, but crafting a haunting, intelligent debut that lingers long after the final note
