Also Also Also

There’s nothing like a relationship, broken or otherwise, to spark an album. Eden Rohatensky seems to have a never-ending well of songs that she is spreading around more and more distinct projects — the dark pop of Orphan Mothers; the minimalist solo project Eden the Cat; and now the synth-pop project Also Also Also.

Perusing the track list of Stock Neon will make it obvious how much relationships inform the music (as is looking at her Twitter feed) but the journey is unexpected. Through these 12 songs, Rohatensky (or, at least the narrator of the songs) is a pursuer, a warrior, a killer and a target. There’s a dark cloud that hangs over everything, even in the happiest-sounding songs on the album.

At the beginning of the album, she is already in conflict with herself over how to handle the breakup of her fast romance. The appropriately titled “Waltz Between the Head and the Heart” is the most minimalist song on the album, just a video-game-esque midi beat as she tries to figure out what she wants to do. It doesn’t become clear what she’s going to do next, nor is it clear if she’ll even get over it — until the final song.

But before the end arrives, in her “Dream” she thinks about what might have been. She thinks about owning “a house by a stream and a little minivan” and growing a garden, but of course, none of that is going to happen. Things get a lot darker on the album than just dealing with emotional fallout in silence. “Better Whatever” considers the worst thing one can do to oneself, and although she sings “I know, I know, I know better,” it’s still a thought that crosses her mind.

She’s got a healthy supply of venom, too. In “I Love Sex,” she seems to purposely put on the most vapid voice possible and just repeats “I love sex” for a chorus. And there’s the two-minute attack that is “Bye Bye,” which I described in great detail in the latest Behind the Hoots.

In still other places she sees herself as the reason for the breakup (the eerily calm “Slayer”) and deals with the green-eyed monster in a frenzy (“Jealousy”) but she finally (at least on the surface) finds some peace with “Not in Love.” She knows she had a bad experience and nothing can change that; with big vocals and a lush soundscape, she proclaims it to the world.

Rohatensky says Stock Neon came from a dark period in her life, and it’s worth taking in as a whole package; it’s easy to get lost in the synths and the catchy beats she makes, but overall, it’s a vivid picture of a year in turmoil. - Gray Owl Point

I cannot tell you what true love looks or feels like, but I believe you will know the sensation of love when you find it. Whether that sensation lies in an immediate connection shared by two people or in the latest piece of art to make your knees weak, love is something that cannot be predicted or easily defined. Love is, for lack of a better word, an enigma, but every now and then someone creates something that envelops anyone who experiences it with a dizzying array of emotions too good to deny. That is the case with the latest single from Also Also Also, the electronic pop project from Canadian songstress Eden Rohatensky, and we could not be more excited to share it with you today.

Officially being released tomorrow on Also Also Also’s Bandcamp page, “Stock Neon” is a brooding and pulsating track that finds Rohatensky delivering her signature croon over midi-driven pop production that feels expansive, yet undeniably focused. The lyrics tell of that connection shared between two people before a romantic component is involved. Some might describe that period of a relationship as friendship, but anyone who has experienced what Rohatensky sings about on this song knows it’s much more than that. As she explained to us in an email:

“‘Stock Neon’ is a song about longing for the love that one shares with someone before there is a romantic component involved. The song, and album, is named after a sign across from a bar which I frequented with a friend, and which was taken down shortly after our friendship fell apart. This song really represents how personal I tried to be with this album, much more than I have ever been with any of my projects. It still makes me sad every time I sing it.”

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The name Eden Rohatensky may be new to some of you, but Saskatchewan’s resident indie pop star in the making has been delivering a variety of unique creations through a handful of musical projects for the last several years. In addition to her work with Also Also Also, Rohatensky also has a solo acoustic project called Eden The Cat and is one half of a synth-pop duo with Jon Neher named Orphan Mothers. Each one is great in its own right, and each one deserves to have more recognition (on a global scale) than what they have individually accrued up to this point. We believe in Eden, and we bet you will too after hearing “Stock Neon” in full. If that’s true, then please head over to Bandcamp and support Also Also Also when “Stock Neon” goes on sale this Friday, July 1. - Substream Magazine