Electroclash will never die. We seem to be entering a new golden age of glamorous people in severe makeup reciting deadpan lyrics over bloopy drum-machine beats. Ideally, an entirely new generation will get to use tracks like those as soundtracks to their worst decisions. Erin Hoagg, the Baltimore-born and New York-based artist who records as Rare DM, is a fine example of the form, and she's got a new album coming out.
Rare DM released her debut album Vanta Black in 2019 and earned her first viral success with her 2020 single "send nudes." For a while now, she's been cranking out one-off singles, and we've posted a bunch of them: "Skater Hits Me Harder," "The Ring," "325." All of those tracks will appear on the new album Attention, which comes out in a couple of months. So will "Compliment," the new single that drops today. As Hoagg says in a press release, it's about a romantic situation that's both gratifying and frustrating:
"Compliment" started with writing lyrics with my Juno 60, using twisting bouncy arpeggiators and chopping up my original vocals into rhythmic stabs.
It is inspired by when you are in a relationship and someone who you had eyes for (before meeting your s/o) suddenly pays attention to you. I was sent a suggestive message from someone and wasn't single anymore. As the lyrics share: "don’t you worry about it for a second, I can take a compliment" because hey, I don’t want them to feel embarrassed or bad, they didn’t know that I met someone! This all being said… I can’t control if they are thinking of me. "You can’t have it… but you can imagine it."
Below, check out the Lisa Saeboe-directed "Compliment" video, which really shows off Rare DM's excellently geometric haircut, and the Attention tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Compliment"
02 "The Ring"
03 "Honey"
04 "Mean Girled"
05 "Butterfly Historian"
06 "325"
07 "LA Traffic"
08 "Lil DM"
09 "Skater Hits Me Harder"
10 "Significant Other"
11 "Feel Nothing"
12 "Landed"
Attention is out 5/29. Pre-order it here.
