Artist Review: Laptop Funeral

Recently while surfing the web I came across a Slovakian cassette label called "Z Tapes" releasing lo-fi bedroom music on the self-publishing music platform Bandcamp. Amongst several other amazing, underrated, underground artists that Z Tapes works with (that will, no doubt, get their Twelve Rolling Stones spotlight article in time), the electronic bedroom artist Laptop Funeral shares a a taste of soft electro-indie-pop from suburban Florida, and narrates "a story of a broken boy trying his best to get better and trying not to lose his relationships in the process."

In their newest, most popular album, The Closer To You, The Safer I Feel, Laptop Funeral bears their soul, yet again, with a compilation of mellow and enticing electronic beats to keep the mind at ease. With songs like "when i look into your eyes" and "break yr mirror," Laptop Funeral establishes its distinct style as a musical presence in various ways. First, it is imperative to study the particular aesthetics of Laptop Funeral's image. This artist makes it clear through its album covers and passively lower-case titles that Laptop Funeral is a casual, unconventional, and underground force. Purposely shifting their syntax to lower case letters, Laptop Funeral makes the statement that their music is meant to feel like bedroom music. Here, the artist intends for its listeners (and viewers) to have an almost intimate relationship with the music and band itself, and, swiftly, they succeed. Additionally, with album covers that strike as indie and home-produced, Laptop Funeral's covers take various film-like images and procure them into covers that feel like they tell stories. In example, The Closer To You, The Safer I Feel designs the album cover with a sloppy filmy picture of a backyard, and adds a small ripped piece of paper that reads, "i want to get better" as a personal anecdote. Here, although prospectors that are heavily saturated in the commercialized music industry would argue that this album cover appears to "try too hard to be artsy," I would argue that the musician's artistic choice is an effective one. Laptop Funeral appears to understand here, through their artistic choices, that their music both only applies to and attracts a certain auditory demographic of listeners. Closely following more renown alternative electronic bedroom artists such as Julia Brown and Teen Suicide, Laptop Funeral emulates these artists while simultaneously succeeding in taking their own unique spin altogether.

Shifting the focus to the artist's musical style, Laptop Funeral's grainy vocals and almost nursery-like electronic pitch feels like it creates a cold room and lets you sit in it for a while. This is not to say that they create a frigid or even unwelcoming tone, but I would argue that the artist creates icy notes and beats that make a listener feel refreshed, while also reminding their listeners of something comfortable and familiar. Laptop Funeral has mastered the ability to stimulate a personable mood through their music. Comparing this artist's productions to that of Teen Suicide, although both artists share their unique lack of interest in preserving distinct timbre, it can be noted that Laptop Funeral focuses more heavily on the high-pitched electronic notes in their music, and feels less depressive/muted. Adding a more energizing and bittersweet twist to the rather melancholy scene Laptop Funeral seems to affiliate with, this artist brings an inspiriting new comfort to the bedroom music genre.

The Closer To You, The Safer I Feel by Laptop Funeral: Full Discography Lyrics and Audio Link