DROP OF THE MONTH: #10

“Sucker for a lonely heart” - taylor roche

Auckland-based artist Taylor Roche treats us to his latest retro-pop single - one of those tracks you can’t help but blast on your summer drives with no destination and scream-sing out your car window. In collaboration with prominent kiwi producer Will Henderson (CHAII, Niko Walters), the song encapsulates a blend of 80s and 90s nostalgia with shimmery synths and addictive melodies complemented by dreamy vocals, contributing to an overall euphoric soundscape. There’s no way you won’t fall in love with it!

Congrats on your latest single! Where did you get the initial idea and inspiration for the track?

Thank you! I wrote this song back in April of this year - I was at a mall and heard this really dope instrumental beat just looping in the food court so I recorded a voice memo of it on my phone, locked myself away and started mumbling random melodies and lyrics to it. The first line that came to me was the chorus “take me out of the pain of this crazy hysterical game” and I also found a random lyric I had written in my phone “I was excited to see you again ..”. The two kind of worked in context together and by that night I had recorded and produced a rough demo of it which then came to life with Will Henderson’s huge production.

Can you tell us a little bit about the meaning behind the song, and what your favourite lyrics from it are?

This single really foreshadows the feeling of chasing someone who’s moved on from you - I played on this with the lines “hysterical game” and “halftime yet” in the chorus to compare the feeling to almost like a cruel game of chase with no end. I was actually kind of in a situation like that at the time I wrote this, so I think that’s why this song came to me super quick and organically.

When I was writing it, I wanted it to have big nods to my obsession for 80s and 90s analogue Synth-Pop so I spent a full session with Will diving into that era and digging through a tonne of beautiful synths to stack under my vocals. My favourite lyric in the song is the chorus line “fading, I’m on a trip of the same thing, you’d never hit” - I enjoyed writing that line as it really plays on that addiction of wanting someone, even when we know they don’t want us.

What were some of your main highlights working on the track?

I loved working in the studio with Will on this - we had a huge couple of sessions and it was a lot of fun creating the journey of this track. I remember spending a big chunk of time going through an endless amount of synths to find the right sounds. When we found them we were like “YES” and it was just those moments of the puzzle pieces fitting together that I loved the most - you can really feel the art coming to life and it’s a magical feeling.

We’re also LOVING the visualiser - definitely gives us vibes of a summer night in LA! What was your favourite part about filming it?

WahooOO thanks! Yeah the idea behind it was to create a 1980s Hollywood Hills vibe and just have me roaming round and singing into a mic - it was perfect because I was in Christchurch at the time which has amazing views from up around the Port Hills.

I think my favourite part of the whole process was how last minute it was haha. Initially I was going to film a completely different visual in Auckland, but because of the lockdown, I boosted back to Christchurch. I had already locked in the release for October but still had no clue what to do visually with being stuck in Christchurch and then one night I was watching Troye Sivan’s live EP performance on YouTube. For his song “Easy” he was filmed walking along a hillside just singing into a mic and it clicked a lightbulb moment that I could definitely see something like that fitting with my song. I sent the video to my friend Mark Song (Christchurch-based videographer) and he was instantly keen - we filmed it all in one night as the sun was setting and I edited it the following day. Even though it was pretty last minute, it was such a fast process but it turned out way better than I had thought.

We always end on a “Would You Rather” so … would you rather do a song with your favourite artist or open for them on tour?

Ooooof that’s really tricky! Opening on tour would be insane but I feel like ultimately if I could release a song with my favourite artist then I would choose that. It would be a gift to release a piece of art with my favourite artist that I could hold onto forever - along with being introduced to their audience (and then surely they’d ask me to go on tour with them anyway so win win I guess HAH).

Thanks so much Taylor! Make sure you keep up with him on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify or Apple Music.

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