The Analog Girl: Niche is the new pop

SINGAPORE - Those hankering after some music made in Singapore will want to head over the National Library today. From 6pm, four artistes will take to the stage - Nic Lee (of Mi Lu Bing), popular pub duo Jack & Rai, rapper Shigga Shay and electronic musician The Analog Girl. Titled MusicSG Reloaded, it’s marks the reboot, if you will, of the National Library’s music website, MusicSG (http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/music/).

MusicSG, as its name implies, is an online portal - a repository of sorts, really - featuring Singapore music through the years, from X’Ho to The Cyclones, from The Observatory to The Quests. The concert at the library is, of course, a microcosm of what the website has to offer, said Mei Wong aka The Analog Girl.

“It’s very diverse and the line-up is very surprising mix. I’m very glad that they do not exclude certain genres or certain styles - alternative or avant garde - so it’s not just the mainstream music that they are focusing on,” said Wong, who added that the electronic music scene is growing. “Not just locally, but internationally as well.”

Nevertheless, Wong said that she still felt that her music hasn’t quite broken through to the mainstream yet. “I still consider myself or my music pretty niche. I don’t write from that perspective - I write from a very pop perspective; but the music that I put out is still considered pretty niche. The market is bigger in international territories but electronic music over there is just a larger niche. It’s still not mainstream.”

That said, Wong said that there was something going for that. “Niche is the new pop. What used to be niche is getting mainstream. And what’s mainstream seems to be taking a back seat, and that could be the new niche,” she said.

While it may seem that the Singaporean public don’t care much for homegrown music, when it comes to crowd attendance at shows, the support is readily available. “I think people do turn up as long as we get together to organize shows – not a solo show, but a line-up, that is better. There’s something for everyone and that’s always nice. You expose the audience to other genres that they might not know about or normally look out for.”

What you can look out for from The Analog Girl at the MusicSG Reloaded show is tracks from her recordings such as Tonight Your Love and The TV Is On. “I’m just going to play what’s on my album! They’ll get to hear the songs as they are on the portal. I always have new tracks so maybe I’ll play a couple of them.”

Wong has brought The Analog Girl’s music across the globe, from Japan to the United States to Europe, but she said there’s no place quite like home. “People know me better here, so the reception here is better than overseas,” she said. “When I play in a foreign country, people don’t know who I am, so I have to present my show in a way that is a fresh take. I have to devise the set without the assumption that people know who I am and what I play. It depends on the audience too. If the audience knows what I do, I can be a bit more relaxed and play whatever I want. But if it’s a festival type show, then I tend to put in more accessible beats or hooks and melodies – rearrange them a little bit to suit the event.”

We must say, that suits us fine.

The MusicSG Reloaded show is on Sept 26, 6pm to 8.30pn, Level 1 - The Plaza in National Library Building. Admission is free.