Hyperpop was first used as both a word and a pop concept in 1988 in an article about the Cocteau Twins. More recently, hyperpop as a micro genre of electronic music is more related to artists such as Charli XCX and the late SOPHIE, with Dazed magazine hailing the music’s futuristic maximalist rush as ‘the sound for a post pandemic world’. A use of vocoder and Autotune based voice modulation in particular has allowed hyperpop performers to play with different voices and identities in a way that chimes with a gender fluid zeitgeist.
The hyperpop scene forms the backdrop to HYPER, a new play by Ois O’Donoghue for Ireland’s Jaxbanded Theatre, co-founded in 2020 by O’Donoghue, who also directs, and the show’s composer/sound designer Ruairi Nicholl.
A mini hit at the 2023 Dublin Fringe, HYPER focuses on hyperpop duo Conall and Saoirse, whose forthcoming gig in a gay bar is given an extra frisson of anxiety by Saoirse’s recent transition. A bathroom incident prompts an intervention that turns the play on its head by way of audience interaction, musical numbers and a whole lot more in an exploration of trans identity that sounds as hyper as its title.
HYPER, Summerhall, Former Women’s Locker Room, 1-26 August (not 12, 19), 8.15pm.
The List, August 2024
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