Beautiful Small Machines may be synthetic, but they’re not stupid. Caught somewhere between the 70’s, 80’s and deep space, this electro-pop duo learned about comedy from adult swim and heartache from Philip K. Dick and they’re spewing it all back out at you like a bunch of mandroids on whiskey and psycho-pharmaceuticals. Fun, Sad, Creepy and Clever – Beautiful Small Machines is the retro-future.
Forging a successful writing partnership over 10 years ago during the making of Bree Sharp’s debut “A Cheap and Evil Girl”, which featured the wryly-scripted cult hit “David Duchovny”, Don DiLego (Lonestar Hitchhiker – Universal Records) and Bree have gone on to work on several records together, which have begun to highlight Don’s increasingly unique production antics, for which he has been in great demand of late. After completing work on what would have been Bree’s 4th solo release, the duo decided instead to scrap what was over a year’s work, and start anew and fresh.
A time-tested catalyst (messy breakup) provided Bree with what ultimately was an album’s worth of heartbreaking lyrics, however originally wrapped in a more “traditional” package. With Beautiful Small Machines, she has turned that upside down. Stripping away the acoustic for “whatever else” was lying around the studio, the duo began to experiment with a sound collage that had no restrictions. Hi-Fidelity was not the goal. What grew was a sci-fi based fantasy retro-rock pop montage that is perfectly highlighted on their debut EP, “Robots in Love.” The title track, featuring the biting lyric that Bree has become acclaimed for, starts out like a 70’s disco song filtering though AM radio, only to erupt in twangy divergent guitars and live drums after the first chorus. The song seems to twist at every angle. More importantly, their live show has been rapidly attracting an audience for such a new band. And seeing them all dressed in white along with an assortment of white animals, lights, projections, horn section, and musicians playing their version of musical chairs, only adds to the late 70’s East Village buzz they seem to be generating. Art rock meets electro-pop. Maybe.
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