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Music

Gareth Thomas guilefully explores selfie-culture on glitch-pop single ‘Cyber Star’

Cyber Star from Gareth Thomas is a glitch-pop bop. Deceptively groovy, self-aware, and revelling in tongue-in-cheek observations.

New Zealand act, Gareth Thomas caught our attention with his flourishing output of D.I.Y indie-gems for Goodshirt and collaborations with Fazerdaze. It was only a matter of time his before left-of-field approach brought him to our Needle In The Hay finalists list.

His latest solo endeavour, Cyber Star, injects hooks across an avant-garde landscape, involving glitch-vocals, video-game aesthetics, and.. a singing cat. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and we can’t get enough of it.

Gareth Thomas

Thomas’s delicious knack for observation focuses on the idea of selfie culture on Cyber Star“These days to go viral is an ambition, to be famous-for-being-famous is an aspiration, and whole careers are forged from social media accounts”, the artist comments.

This sentiment comes across in the lyrics, not in a preachy tone, but a humorous one.

Take the standout line “you’ll live up to your 15th minute”, a sly nod to Andy Warhol’s iconic statement on vapid celebrity culture.

The music video mimics the topic of interest, quipping Thomas’s own pixel artwork, bursting with social media like counts and bright colours.

The soundscape matches today’s social media frenzy with a playful bass (inspired by Lou Reed) and kooky vocals, matching the quirkiness of Devendra Banhart.

The summary rhythm guitar is also a definite highlight. Perhaps most interesting is the inclusion of Thomas’s cat Zoey, making some guest vocal appearances in the third verse. For a track about virality, it’s the most suitable animal choice, let’s be honest.

Listen to Cyber Star below.