By Keith Walsh
The Holidays were made for music, and Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in 2020 wouldn’t work without new approaches to music. Here’s The Analog Girl with her new holiday double single, “VIRTUAL VACATION.” The two track release features lots of synth moods that evoke memories of winter holidays past while hinting at future festive seasons as well.

Hear the tracks here: VIRTUAL VACATION

And here:

I asked Mei Wong, who records and performs with the name The Analog Girl, if we could imagine the concept of a VIRTUAL VACATION as a satisfactory substitute for actual experience, especially in the age of COVID. Turns out she has a lot to say on the topic, as the discussion became a short list of some of the important livestream events of 2020.

She writes, from Singapore:  “Since many of us can’t really, and shouldn’t be, travelling this holiday season, why not substitute that physical experience with something virtual. For me, it is a different mode of consumption but can be equally fulfilling. It depends on the mindset you go in with, and personally, I have been benefitting from all the livestream concerts and drawing much inspiration from watching them, examples being Kylie’s Infinite Disco, Flying Lotus x Brainfeeder, all livestream events organised by PC Music and A.G. Cook, Club Matryoshka which features a virtual music club made entirely in Minecraft, and Isol-Aid Festival.”

Mei continues: “With livestreaming, it is sometimes almost a different art form, a different medium, and some artists get really creative with it, especially those without much equipment to begin with, some streaming solely using the front-facing camera of their laptops or camera phones with the use of AR filters. I’m also glad that some museums are putting their collections online, making it far more accessible.”

Part One of my  VIRTUAL VACATION interview with The Analog Girl 

Mei has captured the sound of future holidays in VIRTUAL VACATION with a soundtrack that is suitably wintery, employing electronic pianos and strings as well as her characteristic studio wizardry. I asked her about the instruments used. “I used 2 electric piano soft synths, both stock from Ableton, starting with the EP Faceplant, then carrying on with the MKI3 Mellow Piano.” In addition one can hear emulations of early attempts by Roland to create an analog drum machine. In this case, it’s the C-78 Compu-Rhythm, a predecessor to the famous TR-808.

Mei continues: “As for the strings, on Magic Hour, it is an old string preset from Korg’s M1 soft synth (under the Korg Legacy Collection) with Ping Pong and Large Space Chorus effects. On ‘Fascination’, it is the Solo Synth preset also from Korg’s M1, and given the Abstract-Crystal Reverb treatment.”

Cool insights and sound secrets from one of the queens of the synth pop avant-garde.

The Analog Girl, VIRTUAL VACATION
The Analog Girl on YOUTUBE
The Analog Girl on FACEBOOK

Cheers, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Synthbeat.com

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