Ears Wide Open: Human Barbie

Kevin Bronson on December 3rd, 2018

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Not that we would ever succumb to the malaise of the Current State of Things, sigh deeply and dream about going back in time, but the first single from Human Barbie makes us forget the malaise of the Current State of Things, breathe deeply and dream about going back in time. “Nineteen80” makes the first of the Reagan Years sound positively dreamy … well, compared to the stupor of “The pocket telephones / the emptiness in our homes.”

The new band, the project of singer-songwriter Chris Hackman (The Fuzzy Crystals), draws from classic psych-pop and an affection for analog recording; the first single, featuring Angela Vicente Asato on piano and backing vocals and Matthew Brundrett on drums, was recorded straight to tape in a Koreatown studio. It’s warm, like nostalgia can be, and deceiving, like nostalgia can also be. “I’m finally going back to 1980,” Hackman sings, “where things are still the same.”

||| Stream: “Nineteen80”