by Conor Lochrie (@conornoconnor)
Christina Schneider has been making music under a number of pseudonyms for years now - Jepeto Solutions, C.E. Schneider Topical and C.E. Schneider’s Genius Grant - but Locate S,1 is her strongest project to date. The album Personalia is an excellent indie pop record with the extra vibrancy that synth pop brings. Schneider hails from Athens, Georgia, a historic alternative rock town but her music completely eschews that classic sound; her style is entirely of Brooklyn and of finding your own voice and independence. It’s fitting that Schneider signed to that city’s Captured Tracks, that home of so many great indie pop releases of the last decade - Reptaliens, Craft Spells, and Lina Tullgren all currently occupy the roster and all share a similar style to Locate S,1. She shared a touring schedule with Frankie Cosmos at the end of last year and Schneider’s career is definitely moving forward with this release.
The whole album is filled with exquisitely-crafted indie pop but there’s a keen sense of nostalgia and love for the new wave and glam pop of the 80’s. The accompanying videos for her music are just as important to understanding this aspect of her work too. They capture a very late 80’s/early 90’s VHS aesthetic - acting as both a homage to that era of pop she clearly adores and also to the internet culture that Schneider was raised in. On ‘Whisper 2000’’s video, we see footage of the faces and bodies of random people at festivals, tv shows, and parades; it’s infused with inspiration and nostalgia.
Her motive is clear with the album, sending an empowered feminist message through a prism of style and flair. Personalia screams throughout of self-love and self-worth. Following on from her previous songs like “Owe It 2 The Girls,” it’s a wholly empowering record. “Even The Good Boys” is the album highlight, its art rock synths playing host to a wry take on how even the “good guys” have their own faults. Elsewhere on “Hot Wife” she satirically calls out harmful beauty standards, insisting on the need for more in a relationship than just physical attractiveness. She sings on “Personalia,” “Almost killed myself so I went home/I just cannot take these local shows”, continuing the idea of self-worth and self-doubt. “After The Final Rose” takes a further sharp shot at modern relationships as we see them through reality shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
Titular song “Personalia” takes its name from a Mary Ruefle poem, in which the poet discusses ridding herself of the spirit of an old woman who inhabited her soul over her life and now being an old woman herself but now with a young woman yearning to break out of her. Relating this to Schneider, then, brings the idea that Schneider has found her true self through reinvention and searching, and Locate S,1 is the vehicle for her to do this. It will be interesting to see if Schneider will continue in this guise or return to her past personas, Locate S,1 has been by far her most successful one though - she’d do well to remain as she is moving forward.
The hazy folk of “Futureless Hives Of Bel-Air” closes the record and it’s a sweet and calming end to the fun and full-on energy that preceded it: it’s the end of the night, the dance floor has emptied, but it was worth it to spend that time with Christina Schneider.