Review
Genre and Mood
Say Yes Dog’s “Stronger” is synth-pop with an indie-pop heart, catchy enough to be the single that introduced their first album and bittersweet in the way the trio’s electro-pop often is: bright on top, reserved underneath.
Song Summary
“Stronger” came out on 17 July 2015 on Diskodogs Records and Cargo as the first single from Plastic Love, the debut album that followed on 4 September. When it appeared, Black Plastic praised its strong hook and vocals. Reviewing the album, the same blog heard the bouncy electronic melodies on Stronger as being there in support of the band’s vocal harmonies, and named the song first among the tracks where the record’s sophisticated pop ambitions show. The band wrote and performed it; the official video credits the production to Shai Solan and the band, the mix to Ash Workman and the mastering to Francesco Donadello at Calyx Mastering.
Musical Breakdown
No source describes the song verse by verse, so the breakdown follows the layers the reviewers name.
The Synths
The electronic melodies are bouncy, in Black Plastic’s word, and they are arranged to serve the voices rather than to lead.
The Voices
The vocal harmonies sit on top. Musikexpress, writing about the whole album, found that the monotone singing brings overly exuberant hooklines back down to earth, which is where the song’s bittersweet edge comes from.
The Video
The official clip, directed by Eike Schulz and produced by Von Fiessbach Film, casts two actors, Marlene Foth and Moritz Ross, as “she” and “he”. It runs longer than the album version embedded here.
Concepts in Focus
A hook is the part of a song you carry away, and Stronger introduced an unknown band’s album on the strength of one: its hook is what Black Plastic praised first when the single came out.
vocal harmony is the second layer. Here the voices are the centre of the arrangement and the synths support them, an unusual balance in electronic pop, where machines often lead.
The music video tells a story with actors instead of showing the band, so the newcomers’ first single arrives as a scene between a woman and a man rather than a portrait of the band.
Artistic Context
Say Yes Dog is Aaron Ahrends on vocals and keyboards, Paul Rundel on bass and Pascal Karier on drums, two Berliners and a Luxembourger who met studying sound engineering and jazz in The Hague. Black Plastic tells how the band got its start: unable to get tickets for Fusion festival, they sent in a video and won a slot. Plastic Love was recorded in Haarlem and also carries their earlier Say Yes Dog – A Friend.
Impact and Reception
Musikexpress described Plastic Love as laid-back electro-pop, electro meets funk meets soul, drawing on the formulas of Hot Chip and Metronomy, with a melancholic, moody undertone. Black Plastic felt the pop ambitions hinted at on Stronger were never quite realised in full, yet called the album a simple, touching mission statement from a band with huge promise. Stronger is where that promise is easiest to hear.
