chocofriendz - golf
(Self-Released 2015)
I have always had a fascination with catalogues of demos and collections of B-sides. There's a sort of voyeuristic thrill that comes with breaking into one of Guided By Voices' "Suitcases" of scrapped demos or eavesdropping on Brian Wilson as he coaches his team of session musicians and sound engineers between takes in the recently issued Smile box set. This brief soundcloud single posted by mysterious producer Chocofriendz provides me with a similar feeling of intrusion. I, the listener, am handed not one, but two variations on a tune titled "Golf". The first of these is an instrumental version of the song, a bit faster and more upbeat than its successor. Two arpeggios played on a charmingly lo-fi keyboard trade places with one another, slowly drawing in more instrumentation, as if the two chords that make up the core of the song were magnetic. Small high pitched trills perch atop the crest of each of each undulating keyboard pulse while bassy piano notes fill out the lower end of the recording. The song is repetitive in an entrancing way, a sort of combination between Penguin Cafe Orchestra and the Norune Village Theme in Dark Cloud. It is cozy and whimsical: if Wes Anderson dabbled in anime then this could easily soundtrack the result.
The second version of the song is a bit slower and darker in mood. Choco whispers pitch shifted poetry about "green grass" and "abandoned golf carts" above the keyboard drones, creating an haunting atmosphere that's creepy in a surprisingly comfortable way. As the song fades into a Sailor Moon sample, I feel as if I'm transitioning from awakeness into a dream.
