Alt-pop duo Fake Dad, brought to you by Andrea De Varona and Josh Ford, are set to deliver their epic single “New Machines,” premiering exclusively and Bridge Magazine.
With fans obsessing over their anthemic June single, “How Do I Cry?,” which landed itself on eight major Spotify editorial playlists like All New Indie and Indie Arrivals, “New Machines” is also a powerful follow-up to their most recent single, “Painkiller,” that caught the attention of esteemed indie tastemakers like Ones to Watch, and premiered on music blog A1234.
Fake Dad continues to impress fans with each project as they settle into their new era of retro-inspired, alternative pop music. Punchy percussion, crooning vocals, and a groovy bass line makes up the fundamental foundation to taking a feeling of disillusionment and betrayal, and transforming it into a positive form of expression. Gen Z and young Millennials are more than familiar with this emotional burden that has been carried from adolescent years through adulthood, constantly being fed disturbing news about ecological destruction and the state of the planet. “New Machines” is the duo’s way of taking that hopelessness and turning it into motivation; they hope the track makes every listener feel less alone in the scary state the world is in, and that there is a sliver of light beaming hope into listeners’ spirit. Expect to hear influences from artists like The Talking Heads, Remi Wolf, and Dora Jar.
While their previous single, “Painkiller,” came together as a collaborative effort between Fake Dad and other industry professionals and was an extremely rewarding experience, the creative process for “New Machines” was liberating and breezy; the two to returned to their roots, embarking on their familiar, intimate process of songwriting, recording, and production in their tiny Brooklyn studio apartment. It yielded a grounding experience for them in which they created and birthed something that already had a beating heart and a recognizable face.
Fake Dad wrote the main hook, the “do do do’s,” as a happy accident while De Varona experimented with melodies over the guitar line early on in the writing process. They both ended up loving the soon-to-be hook so much that they restructured the entire song around it, leaving fans with the version they’ll be listening to throughout the duration of 2022. “New Machines” was mastered by Josh Pleeter, who has also worked with iconic artists Masego, Topaz Jones, and Felly. For Fake Dad, they hope that “the upbeat sound on ‘New Machines’ is motivating and empowering to anyone feeling dejected, anxious, and emotionally burdened. Most of all, [they] hope this makes every listener feel a little less alone in this scary mess of a world.”
We caught up with the duo to talk about the new single and the depths of their songwriting…
Bridge: Tell us what inspired New Machines…
FD: As young members of our current society, we (Andrea & Josh) along with all of our peers have lived our whole adolescent to young adult lives with the emotional burden of climate change. We are fed a steady
stream of alarming news about the state of our planet and its ecological destruction. “New Machines” is our way of taking that deep-seated feeling of disillusionment, hopelessness and betrayal and turning it into a form of expression that is cheerful and light even though the root of what we are saying is kinda sad and despondent. The delusional upbeatness of the track is meant to mirror what we feel is the way so many lawmakers and leaders of this world have made us try to feel about the state of our world and our future—like we have no choice but to pretend everything is going to magically fall into place and be okay. And just like anger can be motivating we hope that the upbeatness and cheeriness of this song is motivating and empowering to anyone feeling dejected, anxious, and emotionally burdened.
Bridge: What do you want listeners to glean from the track?
FD: We hope this makes every listener feel a little less alone in this scary mess of a world. We hope this song brings a little light into your day the way it did for us every moment we were making it. We just want listeners to have a good time, move around, and embrace the nihilism today’s cultural, geo-political landscape demands of us within the safe space of a fuckin bop and a half.
Bridge: Do you look at it as kind of a musical mission to write on such thought-provoking topics?
FD: The thing that makes climate change, which is the focus of this song, feel like it’s within our purview is not the geopolitical overtones (which we care deeply about, but don’t claim to be authorities on)—it’s the fact that this is such a disillusioning, isolating issue that makes so many young people feel hopeless and powerless. THAT is what unifies the subject of this song with our other songs, which cover things like depression, self-hate, anxiety, and general identity crises. We write about things that make us feel alone, in hopes that others can feel less alone in listening. The reason the world falling apart feels apt to write about is not because it’s political—it’s because people our age and kids younger are having nightmares about floods and hurricanes, and questioning whether they have a future to look forward to.
Bridge: What is next for you?
FD: We have a show coming up at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn on December 8th that we’re really excited about. Over the last few months, we’ve also been working on getting some new music together for a very special project coming early next year! We’ve been collaborating with some really sick producers and engineers and we’re really excited for everyone to hear everything we’ve been creating with them. We’re also hoping to get back on the road again in 2023, especially the west coast—most importantly, we’re looking into learning how to make gluten-free sourdough.
Check out our exclusive look at the new single, “New Machines“
