An electropop songwriter from Los Angeles, Hermes is readying the release of her debut album this year. Though she has been uploading music scarcely to her Bandcamp page since 2010, her new single “Box Beyond The Dust” represents a new beginning for her. It’s a synth-heavy tune reliant on its stomping instrumental hook, and rightly so. The only thing here resembling a chorus, the hook basically gives the rest of the song a reason to exist. It’s an overused melody, but one that works well when shielded by MIDI instruments and uncanny vocals. “Theme tune for a 1980s sci-fi show” is what this is going for, and that it accomplishes beautifully. From the synth work and electronic drum beats to the hefty vocal distortion, there is absolutely nothing in “Box Beyond The Dust” that doesn’t scream out 1980s.
With a website not too dissimilar to Homer Simpson’s seen through a vaporwave lens, Hermes is the latest iteration in a line of extremely online artists making music for extremely online people (i.e. you & me). You can watch the video for the song below, directed by the Cleveland-based visual artist Steve MacAdams. It manages both to look both like a very psychedelic Windows XP screensaver and a low-budget space horror animation from 30 years ago. It’s a must.
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