Pop musician from the future David Halsey, better known as Petticoat, is defining an entirely new sound for the heavily populated genre with the release of his innovative debut EP “Informat.” The five-track album melodically probes human relations through a technological lens and alludes to the powerful connectivity of social media from an ethereal perspective.  “I love the music from eras that have had an eye towards futurism,” Halsey says. “Things like 2000s RnB and modern club/pop music.” This influence becomes quite evident as the album takes you on an intergalactic exploration with each beat building into fruition. 

Stream the album and read what Petticoat had to say about each of the songs in his own words below: 

“StartFormat”

The EP kicks off with an opening instrumental track. Startformat is glossy, noisy, and rough in its form. Its purpose is to set the sonic base and theme throughout the entire project — technology and how it impacts modern connection. From the name, the robotic samples, and the glitchiness, it’s almost as if StartFormat was created by a perfect algorithm. 

“Fantasy”

The first structured song is “Fantasy”, a song centered around the act of presenting through dating applications and websites. The lyrics play into the consequences of shallowness and miscommunication through online profiles. I chose to go with 80s New Wave mixed with dance-pop for the instrumental. To me, that era of 80s synth-pop was inherently futuristic for its time and era with its synthesizers, experimental voice mixing, and subject matter. It was a perfect match to get across the feeling and message of modern love; like an eye towards the future through a lens of retrospective. 

“3Yrs”

The theme of infatuation carries throughout the project, but 3Yrs touches on the intersection between desire and online persona. I wanted to create a song that describes the elongated obsession we have for each other through social media. Now that we are can easily access the daily lives of friends, peers and strangers, it can be even harder to break the pull of infatuation we have towards one another, no matter how close or far away we really are in reality. The structure of the song plays into this theme as well. It’s incredibly cyclical, like an agonizing build of energy until it just resets. That kind of showcases living day in and day out being infatuated with someone that you feel so close to, yet so far. It’s a frustration that just resets.

“Greenlight”

I’ve never done a piece of work that was so ripe with intent and purpose down to every last detail. I couldn’t make a song about modern connection without the inclusion of sex work. So much music in history and even today paints them as needing saving or in danger. I wanted to make a song that celebrated infatuation over websites and the people who use sex and intimacy as a tool for income. the song is dancy and fun but sonically feels like it’s going all over the place. The countless instruments, the noises popping in and out. The point was to make a sonic representation of a sex site. Pop-ups, malware, medicine scams, and all. A place where you can meet a cam model and hopefully not contract a computer virus.

“EndFormat”

I needed to balance the cynicism and the celebration of the 21st-century sentiment on the EP with another happy and hopeful song. EndFormat is about two people, equally lost in new lives, reconnecting through an impersonal online connection. It resonates with a personal experience of mine along with so many people I know, and I felt like such a common experience needed to exist through a song format. The song furthers the theme of glitchiness and noise to implicate the technological aspect of the entire EP and ends the project on a light and hopeful note.