Got an email about this single on Critical Heights from Scraps, an Australian synth pop solo project of Laura Hill who has a full length coming out on the label later this year. This track, "Secret Paradise" starts out with a stunted cheap drum machine 4/4-ing away and real heavy sine wave synths layer in with multiple melodies. Her doubled up vocal is close to the mic with no effects, sounding like Yaz or Thomas Dolby with an almost machine-like delivery half talking, or blasting out a breathy melody in the chorus. All kinds of bizarre sounds, captured really clean, aside from the source technical instrument, it's all patched directly in for that bizarre future sound. Reminding me of VT's Toothache on Father Daughter Records, it's solo projects like this that make you honestly appreciate the internet and how accessible recording technology has gotten. Talent like this from halfway around the world, taking pieces from Kraftwerk and Klaus Naomi and putting her own home recorded twee spin to it.
Get "Secret Paradise" on Critical Heights Records who says:
Scraps emerged when Laura plugged a synthesiser in to a drum machine to cheer herself up and the results were magic. After holing up in her room making music on her own, she reluctantly agreed to play live (despite being painfully shy) and has built up a terrific following in her hometown of Brisbane. Laura wears her obsession with 80’s synth rock on her sleeve, citing The Human League, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Flock of Seaguls, OMD, Gary Numan and Devo as influences. The 80s loom large in her subject matter as well, such as in “1982”, which is a love/tribute song to all the machines that didn’t get the girl in movies like Short Circuit and Electric Dreams, where the machines are much more interesting than the men.
This is absolutely great. Thanks for pointing this out.
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