Like lip balm, Doprah seems to be on everyone’s lips. The name has been popping up everywhere, coupled with Laneway and Lorde, Becks, Kawaii, and Lance Armstrong (unrelated). Naturally, I was eager to get a hold of the Doprah EP and see what all the buzz was about.
I’d already heard Love That I Need, which was also released on the Beck’s New New Zealand Music compilation, which I had the opportunity to review earlier this month. The track has a much different effect on me now that it’s not bookended by Ghost Wave and Third3ye.
While compilations are a good way to discover a variety of new music you’re not likely to find otherwise, songs are often better in their natural environment, in this case in between the trippy San Pedro and the Race Banyon remix of Stranger People, which reminds me of a stripped back version of the Bassnector remix of Ellie Goulding’s Lights.
The Doprah EP is Trip-pop in an almost literal sense. The tracks are mastered in such a way that the reverb cascades in a synth waterfall in a way not dissimilar to the feeling of your brain falling away like pieces of wet cake on a huachuma trip.
The Doprah EP is available from iTunes, Spotify and the Doprah Bandcamp (https://doprah.bandcamp.com/).
Doprah are the duo Steven Marr and Indira Force. They formed in 2012 and hail from Christchurch. They have released a number of singles to critical acclaim, two of which went to #1 on their Alternative Chart. Doprah were the support for Lorde at her post-Grammy homecoming show in Auckland and were part of 2014's Laneway Festival. In the studio Marr handles production duties and Force the the majority of vocals. Their sound is not so much international as intergalactic - noise that stretches outwards and inward as if concocted in a particularly colorful area of your mind. For the live show the duo adds an additional 4 people to the mix resulting in an immersive experience.
"We’re lost, but we’re safe. We’re doomed, but we know it. And there’s a strange peace to be found in this wasteland." - Yours Truly
"Beautifully understated compositions rooted in Radiohead’s family of theremin synths and the weaving texture of male and female vocals." - Pigeons and Planes