Manhatten’s debut Blue Sky Girl signifies endings and new beginnings. Blue Sky Girl tells this very story as it unfolds, but this is more than a metaphor. Blue Sky Girl grew out of a rut the artist that is Manhatten faced, an all too familiar reality of having started many projects but yet to finish them. When the 2020 new year rolled around, the artist stumbled upon a folder with retro-related ideas buried within and said to himself, “Ok. This. I’m going to finish this.” The bits and pieces of retro sound profiles provided direction for what would eventually become Blue Sky Girl.
When I first saw the name “Manhatten” – learn more about the spelling in an interview at SynthwaveFan – I naturally thought of New York City. The artist told the electroscape Manhattan – the city – is a place he heard about while growing up, envisioning it as a …”glitzy, glamorous place, full of money and beautiful people“ yet when he saw Manhattan on television “…it always looked a bit cold and soulless.” As he learned more about Manhattan, though, he began to understand it as a place often at the forefront of social change in history, telling us he came to realize “…there’s a lot more under the surface.“ I find this sentiment to reverberate throughout Blue Sky Girl. One can listen to it at the surface, as a piece of chillwave, dreamwave, synthwave, what have you. But under the surface, there’s more.
I first noticed Blue Sky Girl making the rounds on retrowave media outlets. The cover art stood out. It immediately conveys, “There’s a story here.” It features the Blue Sky Girl herself in ‘80s garb, bright red lips and nails to match, all towering over Manhattan and drenched in a cold, blue hue.
Manhatten dug into the cover art with the electroscape. He said he initially thought the cover would feature a drawing of a girl like those drawn by Patrick Nagel and found on the cover of ‘80s artists, such as Duran Duran. He said he thought Nagel’s drawings were a wonderful personification of the idea of a “Blue Sky Girl.” But something changed. Manhatten sat down with his label – Future 80s Records – and told them the story of the album, and the label suggested a different idea, and so the cover as we know it today was born. The artist said “I must admit I wasn’t 100% on the cover when I first saw it as it is” but Future 80s Records said “Trust us. This is a strong image that’ll stand out, whilst staying true to the original concept and themes.”
Future 80s Records was right. The cover art and the music are a perfect fit.
Blue Sky Girl opens with “Last Chance City” led by a synth melody that endlessly rolls over itself and instantly creates a mood soaked in a sense of longing, a mood that grows more prominent as the album progresses. It is on “Last Chance City” the listener is first introduced to the voice of the Blue Sky Girl – courtesy of Star Madman – who says “Can you hear me? Is somebody there?” with noticeably no answer to follow.
The Blue Sky Girl resurfaces throughout the album, and her words and the music together tell the story.
The title track follows and again opens with a synth line that creates that longing state of mind, oscillating in intensity over the course of the song and setting the backdrop for lead melodies that trot across the forefront. The title track was the first song Manhatten wrote for the album and the name stuck. This wasn’t the only force at work in naming the album, though. Manhatten had been looking at Nagel’s art work and felt Blue Sky Girl was a good fit for the music he was developing. From there, the concept to the album emerged and the artist began to build the theme into his songs to bring it all together into a coherent whole.
“Slow Burn” follows the title track and opens with a churning base line, lead synth lines that elicit feelings of dancing against the backdrop of the city skyline, and nostalgic percussion elements that match the nostalgic guitar solo by Jack Wood. By the time I arrive at “Slow Burn,” I am fully aware of the backdrop melodies that set the mood for each song and help create the thematic album Blue Sky Girl is. These stem from the way Manhatten structures his songs. The artist told the electroscape “I generally get a core loop going and then build both ways off of that.” He went on to say he tries to limit himself in the sounds he uses and he feels more creative without a large repertoire to choose from, telling us ”limitation tends to breed creativity.”
When “Thunder” rolls around, it feels like the storm is just over the horizon. The song features a deeper bass line and darker tones than the songs that come before it, and its lead synth melodies force themselves into your awareness.
“Running From It” has a definitive and intense atmosphere while a dark edge patters in the background. It plays like watching a conversation unfold without being able to hear what the people are saying and creates that recognizable feeling of the moment right before you decide to act. We hear the Blue Sky Girl say “Didn’t I say I’d always be there for you?” right on cue, as the song comes to an end.
The deeper tones persist on “Long Time Hanging”, which features a penetrating and enveloping bass line, and the intensity of the mood progresses on “One Ending”, where we hear the Blue Sky Girl say “It’s time to look forward, not back. We only get one time around. We need to keep moving on.” The song elicits feelings of breaking apart, splitting away from, yet the lead synth melodies elicit a feeling of being propelled forward.
Blue Sky Girl comes to a close with “A Kind of Freedom,” which picks up where “Long Time Hanging” leaves off. It feels like opening your eyes to a new day. The atmosphere is brighter, the mood is lighter, and the feeling is fresh. The bass line pulsates and leaves you wanting to stand up and do something. Jack Wood closes the album with a guitar solo that elicits that well-known feeling of looking back just one last time before walking away.
So what is everyone’s story that Manhatten tells in Blue Sky Girl? We all have endings and new beginnings. Blue Sky Girl invites us to look back at our own. Sometimes we hit a rut, and sometimes those ruts inspire us to transform ourselves into something new, just as Manhatten’s rut inspired the making of Blue Sky Girl.
Manhatten plans to bring new sounds to his music in the future. The artist told the electroscape he is starting to get into late ’80’s and early ’90’s hip-hop, such as Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane, Eric B & Rakim, among others. He is also looking to spark some exciting collaborations with other members of the retrowave scene, giving fans much to anticipate.
When we asked Manhatten if he wanted to share anything else with us for this story, he graciously said he just wants people to enjoy his music and is happy people are listening to his work. He also thanked Future 80s Records who have helped him focus on the music side of the project, as well as Lauren Woodroffe for designing his new logo.