Pretentious? Moi?
Let’s just say i over think pop music.
The Monroes were 80s one hit wonders who got nailed when their Japanese record label abandoned the US market and you couldn’t buy their music.
The one hit is perfect for me because it is a study in reticence, it constantly move towards its insecurities: I am a man who deals in uncertainty, and I would love to have a Monroeline as my epitaph: “I’ve been so confused, I really don’t know what to do”. I love stuff that shivers in uncertainty. “Could you be the one I really love?” captures something about the strangeness of not knowing: surely the correct definition of the human condition. Its perfectness -how can I know what she thinks about me when she doesn’t know what she feels about me? Bruce Springsteen wrote “God have mercy on the man who doubts what he’s sure of”, that is an adult compliance, the Monroes is a teen response.
the song itself is awesome. A synth popper with a bit more background, they use the synth to hold the melody not the melody -buzzes behind the lead singer note for note. But for synth pop? It is way way way anchored on percussion not just the hand claps and drum machines, but real drums as well.
“Is it just another game that you and I pretend to play?”
“Is that me, baby, or just a brilliant disguise?”