she (Swedish band)
she | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Varberg, Sweden |
| Genres | Electronica Chiptune Ambient |
| Years active | 2003-present |
| Labels | Pony Canyon |
| Members | Lain Trzaska |
| Website | www www |
she is a band formed in 2003 by the artist Lain Trzaska, sometimes credited as shemusic or Pjat Lain. As its main producer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Lain is the only official member of she but he occasionally brings in vocalists to perform.[1]
Musical style
While she's music can be labeled as electronica and chiptune, it incorporates elements and flavors from ambient and classical music. Using a mixture of old 8-bit computers and modern equipment, she's music is produced in the bitpop style.
While she's albums are electronic in nature, they can vary in genres from album to album. For example, the first release emit and exude is a blend of industrial/electro with electric guitars, his third release pioneer is a chiptune album that uses a gameboy as the main instrument, and his first major release coloris is a dance/electronica album.
Lain often uses acoustic instruments with synths[2] (this stems from his musical roots in classical piano).
Very noticeable in she's music is the use of filters to remove the low frequencies, while retaining the impression that certain sounds (e.g. the kick drum) are still in full force. This has the consequence of making some sounds sound like they come from a very Lo-fi source while some sounds still retain their full Hi-fi quality.
Another noticeable effect Lain often uses is "synthetic distortion", i.e. making the music sound 'glitchy' or 'laggy' like a damaged mp3 or CD. This creates an impression of the music being damaged when it really is not.
Visuals and Design
The graphic illustrations and designs surrounding she's releases are directly connected with each album and both the images and music tell a story. Especially the days album was created as a short story where each song introduces a new chapter.[3] While the sounds, effects, and lyrics give clues to the story of the album, "the listener would find himself creating images and events in his head, completing the story", Lain says.[2]
A returning theme in she's art is that some images seem to be damaged or poorly compressed in certain parts. Just like with the music distortion, the images give the impression that the file is incomplete, broken and not correctly displayed while in reality it is just designed that way.
Another returning theme is the face of an Asian girl watching calmly, not in a slightest way touched or affected by her surroundings.
It seems like the girl sometimes speaks for Lain and gives his fans directions on what to do. Like for example telling them to steal "her" music or to use illegal file sharing to obtain it. Lain often uses ancient symbolism in his images, very noticeable in the chiptek album art and most recently the art for his upcoming album nights where the pyramid and the more modern mathematical symbol the Mandelbrot set is used.[4]
Discography
All of she's releases are free for download, excluding the major releases that were released on the label Pony Canyon.
Music from the album days is used as music in the movie 12 Fl oz.[5]
Major releases
- (2009.09.16) Orion
- (2008.06.17) Coloris
EP/Compilations
- (2008.11.01) chiptek
- (2007.06.17) days
- (2006.12.20) Pioneer
- (2005.03.16) digital ambient designs
- (2004.05.04) Emit and Exude
Singles
- (2011.03.25) Make Me Real[6][7]
- (2008.12.20) 2008/Chiptune Superstar
- (2007.02.10) Songbird
- (2005.07.05) And Beyond
