REVIEW: Fake Dad Faces Serotonin Burnout Head On in New Single, “ON/OFF”
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY FAITH LUEVANOS ☆
Are you starting to feel like all the days are blending into one long, insufferable loop? Are you tired of doomscrolling and feeling way too emotionally overstimulated to do anything anymore? Good news, you’re not alone! LA-based indie rock duo Fake Dad has been feeling the same way, and they’ve captured these overwhelming emotions in their new single, “ON/OFF.”
Comprised of vocalist Andrea de Varona and producer Josh Ford, Fake Dad are masters of creating music that feels intimate, yet expansive - consistently drawing inspiration from 80s pop, modern indie, and classic grunge. The track is another apple off the tree of their upcoming EP, Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine, a compilation of songs that personify Fake Dad’s individual experiences as fictional characters who help them understand their emotions.
The band explores various themes through their music, from self-discovery to intertwining relationships and the complexities of everyday life. These relatable topics project the band further to their shared goal of creating music that understands the listener.
In their new sexually frustrated anthem, “ON/OFF,” Fake Dad comes together once again to create a grunge masterpiece, combining bold and relatable lyrics with crunchy guitar tones. The track is intended to tell a story about the experience of becoming emotionally overstimulated as time slowly starts bleeding together after countless hours of doomscrolling and the drone of everyday life. Sometimes, you just need someone to help relieve you of everything. The song begins slow, with a heavy drum and gentle guitar to set the stage for the first verse. The opening lyrics take listeners directly to a not-so-pleasant scene, with sonic visuals of waking up in a somewhat disheveled state and immediately choosing to rot in bed and go online. The line “no real thought running through my head” repeats as the song builds into the chorus, symbolizing the beginning of Varona’s overstimulation within this routine.
The track continues to paint a vivid picture of the emotional exhaustion of searching for joy online and how badly Varona just needs her partner to help take her out of the seemingly never-ending cycle. The chorus proceeds to say, “can you turn it all off? so you can turn me back on.” The execution of this line comes in crashing; a raw and powerful request filled with emotion in an almost begging manner, perfectly capturing the feeling of wanting someone so badly to take you out of the rut you’ve been in.
Hopping into the bridge, the sexual tension of the song has been built and the energy remains strong while Varona belts the lyrics, “all I can think about is everything I gotta hide, behind my hair, my clothes, as I’m stuck inside.” The line blends seamlessly as the chorus is pulled back into the song, this time with brilliantly whiny background cries from Varona as she repeats, “turn me on.” As the song begins to wind down and come to a close, we hear the familiar guitar and drum from the beginning, truly feeling like the perfect end to “ON/OFF”'s story.
