Katie Dey's fourth album makes the post-apocalyptic, internet-obsessed, cyber-cultural, omniscient black hole seem super sexy. mydata grapples with the way that dealing with love online inherently creeps into our emotional lives IRL.
On opening track "darkness," Dey's vocals are mixed in a way that's so calmly vulnerable, paired with glitchy computerized Kate Bush-esque violins and hopelessly romantic lyrics. "leaving" tugs on heartstrings with its potent reminders of the distance and loneliness of isolation, and the way a long-distance relationship can make you feel like mush. "hoping" tackles Tinder and the way in which online dating reshapes the idea of infatuation; the way a dating profile can have you doubting yourself and imagining the realness of an unconsummated e-relationship. But Dey contests reality: lacking intimacy does not make you any less real. The album closes with "data," an emotional ballad which on the surface seems like a track about USBs and flash drives, but is really about being remembered or forgotten, with the theme of data loss surrounding the entire album.
mydata shows one woman's interpretation of how isolated intimacy affects us, answering the questions we've all had to ask ourselves over the past few months. Physicality exists in data — your response to any stimulus reflects analytically, and you feel yourself the way no one else can. The realness of emotion still exists in the internet age, it's just inward.
(Run For Cover)On opening track "darkness," Dey's vocals are mixed in a way that's so calmly vulnerable, paired with glitchy computerized Kate Bush-esque violins and hopelessly romantic lyrics. "leaving" tugs on heartstrings with its potent reminders of the distance and loneliness of isolation, and the way a long-distance relationship can make you feel like mush. "hoping" tackles Tinder and the way in which online dating reshapes the idea of infatuation; the way a dating profile can have you doubting yourself and imagining the realness of an unconsummated e-relationship. But Dey contests reality: lacking intimacy does not make you any less real. The album closes with "data," an emotional ballad which on the surface seems like a track about USBs and flash drives, but is really about being remembered or forgotten, with the theme of data loss surrounding the entire album.
mydata shows one woman's interpretation of how isolated intimacy affects us, answering the questions we've all had to ask ourselves over the past few months. Physicality exists in data — your response to any stimulus reflects analytically, and you feel yourself the way no one else can. The realness of emotion still exists in the internet age, it's just inward.
