If you don’t know who Resistor is, that’s just the point — “Vincent van Gogh” is a synthpop anthem for a man dying to rise from obscurity. . “Vincent van Gogh”
The album was recorded in Philadelphia with Jeff Zeigler (Kurt Vile, War on Drugs). Its release date is TDB. Below is the story of how the record came to be.
“You don’t measure up to the expectation
When you’re unemployed, there’s no vacation
No one cares, no one sympathizes
You just stay home and play synthesizers”
When you’re unemployed, there’s no vacation
No one cares, no one sympathizes
You just stay home and play synthesizers”
– Flight of the Conchords, “Inner City Pressure”
“First world problems” are frustrations that afflict only the privileged. As an educated, white, middle-class male from suburban New Jersey, I’ve always led a fairly comfortable life. With my basic needs fulfilled, like many of my peers I wanted something more; so I searched for meaning through art. And thus arose the particular first world problem that inspired these 11 songs: the desire for artistic recognition and fame, seemingly so accessible in the age of social media, and yet as elusive as ever.
Beneath its pop melodies, new wave synths, programmed beats, and stacked vocals, First World Problems asks, in shifting registers of truth, fiction and irony: What is it that makes an artist crave the spotlight? Why am I not satisfied with creating in private? Am I motivated by narcissism? Insecurity? A desire to prove myself to those who once slighted me? And why should anyone care about what I have to say?
“Vincent van Gogh” – either the album’s bleakest moment, or its most darkly funny – is a statement of exasperation, in which the narrator, struggling with his sense of irrelevance, wonders whether his best shot at ending up on a blogger’s year-end list is to meet an untimely demise.
I wrote these songs during a year of unemployment, after several years of releasing material with a chamber pop band whose profile never grew to match my ambitions. The synthesized textures and cynical subject matter alike came about as a result of those experiences – my financial and emotional resources were running low, and I needed a way to produce music quickly and cheaply without involving other people. So I started making songs with just a computer and my voice, and Resistor was born.
I’ve come up with lots of different schemes since I first set out to capture the world’s attention. Maybe I could go viral with a wacky youtube video. Maybe I could become a reality TV contestant. Maybe I could die tragically right after recording the perfect song. In the end though, one impulse prevailed: I just stayed home and played synthesizers.