We previously featured ooberfuse for sharing a conscious manifesto with the empowering single, Better Than Gold, so when we found out that the electronic pop duo was back with Electrify, we couldn’t wait to listen and share our experience.
Electrify opens with background noise and a cerebral delivery of the title of the track, followed by a pulsating beat with breathy ad-libs and pitched vocalisations. The lyrics that unfold share a tale of a male protagonist who sounds like a cinematic villain. The song seems pretty open to interpretation, but essentially appears to be about the psychological pressure created when we are expected to conform. It’s cleverly written and makes a villain of what happens when our individuality, dissent or refusal to fit neatly into a prescribed identity is treated as something that needs to be corrected.
We find this pretty interesting because the track doesn’t approach the subject in an overtly didactic manner. Instead, it manifests as something almost hypnotic and unsettling, as though we are entering the consciousness of someone being watched, judged or controlled. The pulsating electronica becomes almost like a nervous system, constantly activated, whilst the ethereal vocal textures create an increasingly surrealist mood.
There is a spiritual dimension to this too. At its heart, Electrify feels like a call for freedom of expression and the right to exist outside of other people’s projections. This feels super zeitgeist, as we live in a culture where mental health awareness is incredibly important, but ooberfuse are asking a more uncomfortable question: what happens when language intended to support us becomes another way of labelling, dismissing or silencing us?
The timing of the release ahead of World Mental Health Day (tomorrow) adds another layer, particularly because the duo are not simply speaking about anxiety as an individual experience. They are looking at the wider energetic environment that can create anxiety in the first place i.e. the pressure to perform, conform, keep moving and appear okay.
We can imagine Electrify working incredibly well within a psychological thriller or dystopian television series, particularly something in the worlds of Black Mirror, Severance, Mr. Robot or The Day of The Jackal. There is a cinematic darkness here that could underscore a character beginning to question the reality they have been presented with. We also love the DIY visual language surrounding the release, with filmmaker Haydn West combining analogue photography, live performance and selective AI animation. The video will be available here.
Needless to say, Electrify feels like another evolution for ooberfuse and we have added the track to our New Music Spotlight playlist and our TIMELESS and TRIPPY playlist, whilst we continue to stream the wider discography of the duo including Dying Son, On My Knees, and Only You.