Tuesday October 29, 2024
From the first notes of Ballerina Girl, you’re drawn into a world that is both timeless and unmistakably modern—a trick that few artists pull off these days.
Neo Stereo, the project of Mark Cassius, isn’t interested in genre boundaries or expectations. Instead, he’s channelling something primal, something that runs through the veins of music history, yet still feels rooted in today’s sonic landscape. Ballerina Girl opens with those plaintive, atmospheric keys that set the stage for a story about loss—a ballerina, a love gone.
Cassius’s voice, raw yet controlled, brings to mind the confessional tone of Springsteen at his most introspective, but there’s also a spectral quality here, reminiscent of Bowie’s late-era minimalism. The song doesn’t rush; it takes its time, like a memory unfurling in slow motion. What makes Ballerina Girl work is its emotional clarity. The narrative is simple: a love lost, a woman who takes everything she once gave.
But in its simplicity lies its power. Cassius doesn’t clutter the story with metaphor or flourish. Instead, he lets the music, and his voice carry the weight of it. The way he sings, ‘She took it away,’ over and over feels less like a lament and more like an incantation—a spell cast over the listener. Musically, the song is anchored by a blend of retro influences and modern sensibilities. The synths call back to the era of Depeche Mode, while the structure is reminiscent of the indie rock revival of the early 2000s. But none of this feels derivative. Neo Stereo is creating something that stands apart from its influences, a sound that speaks to the past while firmly grounded in the present. What’s most compelling is the restraint Cassius shows.
Ballerina Girl never explodes into the kind of catharsis you might expect. Instead, it simmers, its intensity lying in the spaces between the notes, the silence after each line. It’s a song that lingers, haunting in its subtlety.
