Woman’s eerie, neon-coloured “Marvelous City” doesn’t exactly deviate from the throngs of electropop singles flooding the market as of late (often sadly referred to as EDM), but it does employ a pleasantly lush practice in ambient-pop noodlings. “Marvelous City” is rife with catchy hooks and harmonies, but its pungent atmosphere of orbiting synth waves is the draw here. Swelling with sonic panic and anxiety, the number overflows like a cauldron of anti-romantic synthpop.
Hailing from Cologne, Germany, there is a certain austere sound in Woman’s production, often synonymous with German electronic music. But for all of their impossibly polished surfaces, the band does touch the more unsettling depths of human despair. Beneath the fluorescent sheen, there is a restless, twitchy jolt of emotion threatening to break the surface. Listen to the number’s brief, wordless bridge (full of gasping animatronic yelps), and you will hear it. “Marvelous City” is too creepy to be sexy, but then it’s too creepy to be ignored. Comprised of pulsing electronica and snatches of ‘70s AM pop, the band’s latest single hints at more of the weird mechanical funk to be found on their upcoming LP, Happy Freedom.
