Dark cool electro art pop on the trail of the brave new global working world.
Daniela Weinmann aka Odd Beholder likes concepts. On her fourth album, the Swiss artist sheds light on the excessive demands and global entanglements of our working world in a multi-layered way, in which she has to navigate multiple tracks in order to make ends meet. This is about the human and ecological consequences of our online activities using the example of a low-wage worker in an energy-hungry data center “that turns fishing grounds into streams” (“Internet Famous”). Weinmann and techno producer Douglas Greed cool the endless rows of blinking servers down to a frosty, catchy disco noir.
It remains one of the few club-suitable tracks on a record whose electro-pop with wave synths and delicate breakbeats is otherwise more in the arty realms of Jenny Hval. An outburst, also lyrically, is marked by the surprisingly powerful indie pop from “Drive”. Most touching: “Like A Chore”which takes the perspective of a working mother in a tender and sad way at the same time.
In the end, to “Night Shift”splashing rain, a ticking beat and overcast vocals create a somnambulistic trip-hop atmosphere. The end of the day seems near. And there’s even a hint of warmth.
