Single Review: Lock Me Up

Palmerston North-based Boy Virgo — the pseudonym of singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist Michael Dermer — is a relative newcomer to the New Zealand music scene. Having started releasing his music via Soundcloud in 2018, he released his official debut single to wider platforms in 2019. Now with four previous singles released, Boy Virgo continues his journey into alt-pop with his fifth single, a collaboration with Sage Jewel (a young producer from Portugal) entitled Lock Me Up.

Opening with a massive, swelling synth-line that wouldn’t be out of place as an intro for a hyperkinetic set at an EDM festival, Boy Virgo very quickly establishes Lock Me Up as a track that plays (consciously or subconsciously) with the listener’s preconceived ideas and prior experiences. Instead of heading in directions reminiscent of Shapeshifter, Concord Dawn or even the more contemporary vapourwave, Lock Me Up brings in what could be considered a contradiction of elements.

Indeed, the rapid-fire vocal delivery that leads the track off is a seeming contradiction to the slower, more relaxed, yet still fuzzy drum and basslines. Similarly, where many artists would seek to have a more energetic and melodic ‘chorus’ section, Boy Virgo does the opposite, lowering the dynamics of the instrumental backing and locking onto a repeated refrain of the song’s title. He also vocally delivers the chorus with little, if any, additional vocal gymnastics, allowing the gentle autotune-esque sound of his slightly pitch-shifted voice add the tonal varieties needed to retain the listener’s attention.

Compositionally, this is a tightly structured pop beast. Any temptations for instrumental breaks or ‘solos’ are ignored, instead the track runs quick at a lean 2 minutes 40 seconds. While somewhat unusual to hear in modern pop, which has started to rely a little more on breakdowns and repeated choruses to meet the requisite/mandated 3 minutes 30 seconds runtime, this restraint and concise approach is refreshing to hear and provides the impetus for repeated listens.