Street Fruit Drops ‘Hey Operator’ from ‘Strange Tanks’
The 4-piece psychadelia-meets-alternative group recently released the hypnotic music-video-single video ‘Hey Operator’.
A thumping, Beatle-esque drum beat starts the engine. Then (in the next phrase) a smooth lead guitar, locked-in bass, and a chime-ish bell begin to dance in tandem… a melodic, unorthodox quartet. Finally, a voice breaks through the mist.
“Hey operator, you only hear what you want me to hear”.
The sounds of experimental Beatles entwine with the consciousness-expanding edge of that of Gotye. until it settles into a syncopated and balladic, quasi-bossa groove.
This curt phrase ‘Hey Operator’ is a layered lush vocal we keep coming back to. The phrases that follow? A response to the call. Texturally, the layered vocal of ‘Hey Operator’ acts as contrast against raw, solo response(s).
“And I’m fallin’ in and out of touch…With anything that’s touching.”
As we step into the shoes of Street Fruit, we realize that this is no ordinary operator. As the chill guitar solo gives us space to sit with the vibe, one wonders- Are we a little bit high right now?
A drop of laudunum and the world scatters into fractured rainbows, as if molded to a trance-inducing diffraction grating sheet. We look at the baby strollers, the trees, the hues of teal and lilac.
We then crescendo into new texture. One with rhodes-ish keys and a small hand shaker, which propels the energy into the next section.
This ‘Hey Operator’ speaks of a very different operator that that of Coney Hatch’s. Throughout the song we continue to experience several instances, conversations, between suspicious merchants and forces of darkness.
Additionally, throughout the song there is a motif of falling in and out. As the lyric is carried through the verse like a zephyr, it morphs, with its final iteration being…
“And I’m falling in and out, falling out of love, with the world of love, falling out of love”.
A faraway feeling dark-timbred guitar solo and a faint harmonic sees the song though. Despite the words of last stanza being crestfallen (linguistically), the music carries us to the end with a peculiar levity, anodyne, until the final note rings out.
The single ‘Hey Operator’ was taken from the band’s sophomore record ‘Strange Tanks’ released earlier this year. In addition, is their third music video from the album. Watch it now.
Your 2022 debut has been described in two words: “Unruly, Razor Sharp”. If you could reduce “Hey Operator” down to two descriptors, what might they be?
Deceptive. Vulnerable.
What do you mean by the mystifying lyric “Beneath the screen, we’re dusting for prints”? Are we at the scene of a crime at that moment?
For clues to meaning, refer to our debut record “Beneath The Screen.” In the context of “Hey Operator,” screens can hide things, screens can catch things, screens can fold, screens can break. A lot of activity can go down around screens and it’s easy to lose track of who’s doing what.
Yes, we are at the scene of a crime at that moment. But, then again, we always are.
I have to ask- Does your title take any inspiration from the Coney Hatch song? Is it a play off that, or a coincidence?
Pure coincidence.
What kind of guitar or string instrument played the final instrumental section of the song? It has such an interesting, exotic and raw timbre.
That would be a fretless bass which, in some quarters, is quite exotic. Glad you dig it. As far as the raw timbre, it was Cyrus’s first date with a naked neck.
Rumor has it your entire album was tracked to 2” tape with engineer Jimmy Dixon. What was it like working with him, and what first inspired you to go for this nostalgic sound?
I wouldn’t call it nostalgic. Traditional, maybe, in that we are part of a recording continuum that stretches back at least as far as Les Paul and carries forward through people like Lee “Scratch” Perry, Hank Shocklee, and Gary Young-era Pavement, to us. We plan to keep stretching it till it breaks.
Working with Jimmy Dixon was exciting, maddening, funny, and extremely productive.
What was it like to make this music video, and what inspired you to record the first shot of the ouija board?
We shot it on the cheap, did it quickly, and had some lucky breaks. One of those being an in-house editor—Tiffanie worked some magic.
Philipp brought the ouija board…he likes things that test the limits of credulity.
Lastly, do you feel that ‘Hey Operator’ ends on a melancholic note, given that the last lyric is one about falling out of love?
Good question! The last lyric is “Falling in and out, in and out of love, with the world of love.” To me love, and the world of love, are distinct. It may be a good thing to fall out of love with the latter. Or it may be folly to do so. Depends on who you are. And there’s something melancholic about that.
Street Fruit Instagram / YouTube
