By Keith Walsh
With an electronic shoegaze sound, The Analog Girl‘s new single “Phases” teases us with ethereal charms. The Analog Girl is Pamela Mei Wong, and as she explains it, “Phases” is “about striking a connection with someone you’ve only known for a short time.”
There’s some 70s pop music sounds for sure, particularly in the chordal movement and vocal melody, though “Phases” is something completely different, overflowing with downbeat synthpop, all lush, all seductive, and all about the mysteries of love.
Synthbeat: I hear a kind of mutation of the 70s ballad celebrating love, plus some of the 80s sentiment questioning the very nature of love. What are your actual influences on the themes, vocal melodies and chord progression?
The Analog Girl: That is precisely it! I’m so glad to hear from you that ‘Phases’ came across as such. I’ve always been drawn to 70s and 80s ballads from the likes of Carole King, Carly Simon and George Benson, to name just a few. Of course, after it goes through The Analog Girl system, it sounds nothing like that but the sentiment remains.
I have to add that for ‘Phases’, it was one of those songs where I had the melody and then the lyrics just fit into place effortlessly. It really felt right to me.
Synthbeat: As this is based on an actual romance, how is that going and can we expect an entire album of love songs?
The Analog Girl: Cool that the song came across as a personal account, but actually, like all of my songs, they are not based on one specific encounter but an amalgam of moments and emotions from various stimuli. An entire album of love songs would be fantastic but it won’t be, in true Analog Girl fashion.
Synthbeat: Finally, when can we expect any tunes in hyper pop mode, say like “Caffeine ‘ from The TV Is On? Those styles are perfect for the excitement of love!
The Analog Girl: Nice to think that the style of ‘Caffeine’ could also be a base for a love song! But I have been writing pretty mellow songs for a while now and I can’t seem to get out of it. I’m enjoying the mellowness for as long as I can, until my hyper side returns! There will be a fast track on the mini-album though, that’s for sure.
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