Decisive Pink – “Dopamine”
The struggle, it’s real: “Sitting at home, feeling alone, staring at my laptop and telephone/ I’m browsing the sites, I’m trying to find to fill up the void and pleasure my mind.” Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV, the enigmatic pair who make up Decisive Pink, are human after all. And humanity nowadays involves spirals of shame as you mindlessly scroll through your devices and give in to temptations you didn’t even know you had, enticed by the promise of more, more, more. (For example, yesterday: I got 20 “free points” because I ordered something from Thriftbooks and it happened to be my birthday … that’s sad!)
On “Dopamine,” Decisive Pink turn that instantaneous but empty rush into a song that’s goofy but sincere, a consumerism commentary that could be eyeroll-inducing (and maybe is, a little) but is also utterly charming in their commitment to the bit. There are lists of all the items you can find online (“Remote control centipede! Giant googly eyes! Bubblewrap calendar!”), it ends with a phone call echoing the humiliating conversations one has to have with a computer when they’re just trying to get some assistance. And all throughout, there’s that needling insistent beat, and that breathy hook (“dopamine, dopamine”) that provides a hit of dopamine all by itself. —James
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