by Carolina Simionato (@smntcarolina)
Recorded from the 17th to the 26th of March, 2020 during the coronavirus’ stay-at-home order with several keyboards Nina Ryser (Palberta) and Gabe Adels have collected over the years, Data’s third album, the self-released Data 2020, funkily hits many a figurative nail on the head.
“Still Skatin’” opens the album with tragedy: “I'm waking up to find the loss of an old friend of mine, it's like part of my world died,” Ryser and Adels sing together. The melody getting darker, they then speak words which, one year into a pandemic, couldn’t ring truer: “I can’t stop feeling doom.” Don’t be fooled by the lyrical content, though. Most of the album can get your body moving: it is the kind of music you can dance to while crying (and vice-versa) because yes, Data 2020 is filled with apposite melancholy, but it is in equal measure bright and catchy.
All together, it sounds just about how the cover (described as having been "made in part from frankensteined Storybook Weaver images”) looks like: silly but serious; retro-futuristic. A reminder of a time which may as well have not existed at all, somewhere in the past where most of the aforementioned keyboards used for these songs were made. Such a time exists here at least, mixing tight electronic and synthy timbres with warm voices and guitars, seemingly following in the Young Marble Giants' footsteps — but in their own different direction and with complementing vocals.
Every now and again it becomes clear that one of the three fingers that make up Palberta is involved in this album, while still maintaining some distance from it with its heavy inclination towards electronic music-making. It also contains some of that same energy and exploration of harmony and melody, even more so during “Hold It” with its delightful and soft chaos. Even clearer is the fact that Nina Ryser is a prolific, brilliant musician whose touch will continue to elevate a wide range of compositions.
In the end, we are fortunate enough to still be bopping around, "feeling like my best self, wandering the station, rollin' with my body and everything around me." Data 2020 can be a great companion for coronavirus-related isolation and many other sorts of life-altering blows, carrying enough lightness and silliness inside to get you through it — and then hopefully bop around with you when jollier times come.