Australian synth pop artist Scraps (AKA Laura Hill) emerges blinking into the world with wonderful 7″ single ‘Secret Paradise’. Eschewing the intros familiar OMD-esque synth pattern that is draped around its brittle shoulders, ‘Secret Paradise’ is like a long lost lo-fi electro gem you’ve found at the bottom of an old shoe box. Its playful bleeping casio framework is given human form by Laura’s twitchy internal monologue(that’s constantly being hit by ‘a flashing light some smoke, a Russian Spaceship’), cooing vocals and dexterous bedsit sounds. ‘Secret Paradise’ simultaneously managing to remind one of early Theoretical Girl, Blackbox Recorder, and casiotoneforthepainfullyalone in its sheer audacious individuality…
Scraps release a new full-length album in early 2013. The 80s loom large in her subject matter as well, such as in “1982”, which is a love/tribute song to all the machines that didn’t get the girl in movies like Short Circuit and Electric Dreams, where the machines are much more interesting than the men.
Scraps emerged when Laura plugged a synthesiser in to a drum machine to cheer herself up and the results were magic. After holing up in her room making music on her own, she reluctantly agreed to play live (despite being painfully shy) and built up a terrific following in her hometown of Brisbane.
Links:
http://www.criticalheights.com/index.php?page=release&releaseid=00000000897
