Annabel Alpers has put New Zealand on the tech-pop map.
Recording as Bachelorette, her first album for the Drag City label is a pop treatise on technology's perpetual intrusion on society.
Titled "My Electric Family," the record takes aim at an increasingly computer-reliant population. Her method is the catch. As a student of computer-based composition, Bachelorette makes use of traditional instruments, but deploys mostly electronic sounds. Like Kraftwerk's "Computer World," she uses the very devices she's critiquing.
The hazy doo-wop of "The National Grid" explores the urban existence; backing vocals inch the rhythm along, giving the feeling of walking on a crowded sidewalk. The brass section by the Royal New Zealand Air Force Brass Band on "Dream Sequence" plays like a sound-off for more physical activity.
Disconsolate ballad "Where to Begin" poses the question, "Will this digital obsession ever end?" Again, Alpers' lyrics articulately punctuate the situation: "You stay in your room/ On the computer/ Observing strangers/ Ignoring those around you."
"Her Rotating Head" is synth-pop on par with other outer-echelon divas like Annie (Norway) and Robyn (Sweden), but instead of a bubble gum theme, Alpers subliminally rails against objectification by likening the female side of a romance to a robotic doll.
Using pop music as a vehicle for introspection, Bachelorette details the benefit and detriment of technological evolution, making one of the year's best records in the process.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: "Technology Boy," the album's centerpiece, veers out of the city and onto the scenic route, as processed harmonies flicker and float above warm, competing analog/digital tones.