BLOND IN CAR "Short Hello and a Long Goodbye" (Albatross Pictures)
Add Date: 4/11/2023
Release Date: 4/12/2023
FCC: My High Gummy Girl (Clean version included)
Focus Tracks: My High Gummygirl, Secret When You See One, Superstar Superstar
Formats: Non-Comm AAA, Submodern, NACC Top 200 and Chill
RIYL: Belle and Sebastian, Men I Trust, Beach House
“Instantly memorable. A wistful pop delight!”
- Under the Radar
“Cinematic, lush soundscapes... a captivating indie pop reckoning with heartache.”
- Atwood Magazine
A native Los Angelino, Blond in Car singer/songwriter Robin Schorr had a serious career as a 2-time Emmy award winning producer in film/tv until she had a “crisis of mojo” and unexpectedly and totally fell in love with songwriting. So she started over from scratch. In May of 2020, after learning her craft in the rigorous world of country music songwriting, she segued into sync songwriting with other artists, quickly landing placements with Coke, Samsung, Nissan, Toyota, Bose and promos, trailers and episode licenses with every studio and streamer. Soon, Schorr felt the urge to make more personal music, and took up the moniker Blond in Car.
Today, Blond in Car songs have over 1.5MM streams and fans around the world. Blond in Car’s monthly singles show up consistently on the playlists of indie radio stations around the country and placed #2 on the NACC Radio Chill Chart. Her recent single, “Another Girl” was named Today’s Top Tune by fave station KCRW.
The gauzy soft-psych indie pop of Blond in Car is infused with that particular combination of romanticism and melancholy that permeates her hometown of LA. Built around immediate, undeniably infectious hooks, the music of Blond in Car (the credit Schorr had on her one non-speaking movie role) combines a dreamy, innocent femininity with a sharp eye for detail, luscious harmonies, and chunky beats.
Following the two EP’s from 2022, Schorr continued work with favorite producer 9 Theory (Clozee, Emancipator, Inspired Flight) to make the new 5-song EP. “Last year was all about heartbreak and loss. My mood these days is all curiosity. Maybe it’s that post-Covid feeling of rebirth, but I just want to try things out, different ways of singing and shaping songs.” Written in the self-described “happy place” that is Schorr’s little home studio and recorded in the 9 Theory studio filled with “beautiful synths and vintage Moog, a dreamy Rhodes and all the other music toys”, is a snapshot of her reality, both emotionally and musically.
“With these new songs, I found myself writing portraits of a moment in time or a fascinating person.” explains Schorr. “My High Gummygirl,” the new dreampop single, is a blissed-out love letter to Schorr’s hipster daughter. "Everything in the song is all her, little things she does and says and the beauty that I see in her. Her superpower is that she's unusually gifted at being happy. Which she certainly didn't get from me. It's a sweet, uncanny thing to witness."
The song is as euphoric as it is catchy with classic Blond in Car layers of Beatles-esque melodies and harmonies, synths, and guitar all reverb’d out for maximum heavenly chill vibes.
The title track, “Short Hello and a Long Goodbye” is one of Schorr’s particular favorites, captures the way it just take a minute for someone to walk into your world and change your life forever. The song starts out vibey and ends up euphoric, and features some of the most gorgeous melodies in the EP, both in the yearning chorus and the epic bridge. "This was a song where the melody and words came to me together, which usually doesn't happen," says Schorr. "The line, "Will we ever know the grand design" just inserted itself in my brain, but it is something I think about a lot. Are we really in charge of our lives, or is it all just playing out the way it's bound to?" The lingering sorrow referenced in the title fits exactly with the sparkling melancholy of this indiepop ear candy.
The EP also features the disarmingly upbeat “Simple Equation” about indecision is a study in happysad indie pop with an infectious chorus as hooky as it is plaintive. Rounded out by the two previously released singles, “Secret When You See One,” and the double-cover of Carpenters and Beach House, “Superstar Superstar,” the EP is classic Blond in Car: thoughtfully crafted indiepop, featuring luscious trippy synths, complex hooky melodies and layers upon layers of harmony, all set to chunky beats and Gabe Lehner aka 9 Theory's ringing guitar.
“I’m still reasonably new to making music, so I still have an almost delirious love of songwriting and creating these sounds,” Schorr says. Effervescent art-pop, infused with sea breeze and sparkle, Short Hello and a Long Goodbye is a concentrated dose of wistful euphoria – perfect for Spring 2023 and after.