she (band)

she is a band that was formed in 2003 by the artist Lain Trzaska, and is sometimes credited as shemusic or Pjat Lain. As its main producer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Lain is the only official member of she but he occasionally brings in vocalists to perform.^[5] On October 26, 2013, Lain announced that he was working on his third solo project D7VON that would focus on his more personal side and Dark Electro/Industrial music.^[6]

History

Lain Trzaska was born on June 20, 1983, in Kraków, Poland. He moved at the age of 5 to Sweden, where he learned to play piano and violin at an early age.

In 1997, Lain began creating music using FastTracker for computer games he had created.

In 2003, Lain started his project "she" that would deviate from his Game music sound into more band-oriented music, starting with his first official release Emit and Exude in 2004. Emit and Exude explored a more ambient and industrial sound while still retaining some elements from his Game music including Chiptune and Game sound elements.

In June 2008, shortly after releasing Coloris, "she" was contacted by Japanese music label Pony Canyon for a record deal.^[7] Pony Canyon released the coloris album in physical and digital formats throughout the Asian market but Lain retained his worldwide copyright, excluding Japan.

In May 2012, Lain announced that "she" has been put on indefinite hiatus.^[8] He later clarified that only the band has been put on hiatus, not himself as an artist.^[9] A few days later, Lain announced that "shemusic" (that is, his style of music blend [mainly Electro House/Chiptune and Ambient Acoustic] released under his band "she") was going to split in two. Lain announced the new band as "Imagery by Sound". "she" and "Imagery by Sound" are now the two sides of "shemusic". While "she" follows its way on Electro House and Chiptune, "Imagery by Sound" focuses now on the "ambient/acoustic and electro experimental aspect of "shemusic". Imagery by Sound features the previous albums (Insomnia, Days, Digital Ambient Designs) from "she" as a related musical legacy.

The upcoming Nights album will be released under Imagery by Sound.^[10]

In September 2012, Trzaska announced that shemusic would release a new LP titled Electric Girl, which had been put on the shelf in 2010.^[11]

In November 2014, Trzaska announced a new she album to be released during spring 2015, with a single from the album to be released a few weeks before it.^[12] This release was pushed back to December 2015, when she's next album, Chiptune Memories, was released.

In October 2016, Trzaska released a new she EP Album named "Abyss".

Musical style

While she's music can be labeled as electronica and chiptune, it incorporates elements from ambient and classical music. Using a mixture of old 8-bit computers and modern equipment, she's music is produced in the bitpop style.

While she's albums are electronic in nature, they can vary in genres from album to album. For example, she's first release, Emit and Exude, is a blend of industrial-electro with electric guitars; the third release, Pioneer, is a chiptune album that uses a Game Boy as the main instrument, and the first major release, Coloris, is a dance-electronica album.

Lain often uses acoustic instruments with synthesizers^[3] (this stems from his musical roots in classical piano).

An effect Lain often uses is "synthetic distortion", i.e. making the music sound 'glitchy' or 'laggy' like a damaged mp3 or CD. This creates an impression of the music being damaged.

Lain often uses Renoise, a DAW based upon the heritage and development of tracker software, to create his music.^[13] He often masters his music using Sound Forge.

Visuals and design

The graphic illustrations and designs surrounding she's releases are directly connected with each album and both the images and music are intended to tell a story. For example, the days album was created as a short story where each song introduces a new chapter.^[14] Lain describes that while the sounds, effects, and lyrics give clues to the story of the album, "the listener would find himself creating images and events in his head, completing the story".^[3]

A recurring theme in she's art is that some images seem to be damaged or poorly compressed in certain parts. Just like with the music distortion, the images give the impression that the file is incomplete, broken and not correctly displayed.

Lain uses symbolism in his images, noticeable in the album art of chiptek, and most recently in his upcoming album nights. The cover of nights displays the pyramid and Mandelbrot set.^[15]

Discography

All of she's releases are free for download, excluding the major releases, which were released on the label Pony Canyon.^[3]

The Electric Girl album was originally planned for a release in 2010, but was later postponed until November 2012. She's newest album "Chiptune Memories" was released in December 2015.

Music from the album days is used as music in the movie 12 Fl oz.^[16]

Major releases

• Coloris - June 17, 2008
• Orion - September 16, 2009
• Chiptune Memories - December 3, 2015
• Nights (under Imagery by Sound)^[17] - TBA

EPs and compilations

• Emit and Exude - May 4, 2004
• digital ambient designs - March 16, 2005
• Pioneer - December 20, 2006
• days - June 17, 2007
• Chiptek - November 1, 2008
• Journeys^[18][19] - May 10, 2011
• Electric Girl - November 29, 2012^[20] (November 10, 2010 was intended release date)
• Insomnia by Imagery by Sound^[21] - December 6, 2012
• Come See Me^[22][23] - September 21, 2014
• Come a Little Closer^[24] - March 18, 2015
• Abyss^[25] - October 14, 2016

Singles

• And Beyond - July 5, 2005
• Songbird - February 10, 2007
• 2008/Chiptune Superstar - December 20, 2008
• Make Me Real^[26][27] - March 25, 2011
• Always Yours^[28] - December 13, 2012
• Distortia^[29] - January 13, 2013
• Since You Left^[30] - March 3, 2013
• Break The Silence^[31] - March 28, 2013
• Come See Me^[32] - June 25, 2013
• Archetype^[33] - July 19, 2013
• Easy Action^[34] - September 13, 2013
• Axiom ^[35] - April 28, 2015

References

External links

• Official website