Damero: Happy in Grey

Moody Berlin electronic pop composer and singer Damero’s debut, on Bpitch, could just have easily found a home on Morr Music, another German label dealing in downcast, synth-infused song-crafting. Although I’m hesitant to resort to this line of convenience, calling Damero “the female Styrofoam” perfectly corrals her style, down to the flat emotions of her nonetheless tuneful vocals and the pale sunlight that filters through her otherwise gloomy glitch-pop compositions. And, like Styrofoam’s albums, Happy in Grey is easy enough to enjoy on a cloudy day, but difficult to love. The title of the opening cut, “Mope”, encapsulates the feeling of the ten tracks that follow: all are Eeyore-like in their even level of glumness. That there’s no joy on the album is fine, but a little angst or even some whining would have given it some tension, some edge. As it is, Happy in Grey is a fine little album for soundtracking your mildly bummed-out day.