Madeline Puckette writes perky little songs in which she breathily sings atop electro-pop backing tracks of her own composition. She doesn’t quite bury her voice in the mix, but she’s more than comfortable letting the electronica, often a blippy mix of pin-prink percussion and warbly effects, share the stage. (She received her BFA in Music Technology & Fine Art at CalArts.)
Puckette’s even comfortable giving the background material its own moment in the sun. Up on her website right now, the instrumental half of her song “Someday” is available as a free download (MP3), as is the a cappella section that results from the musical postmortem.
The track has a certain 1980s appeal, with echoes of Berlin (the band, not the city) and Liz Phair (the melodies, not the instrumentation), but with wispy, ragged little updates that are all Puckette’s own. She’s uploaded the vocal and vocal-less “Someday” files with the intention of inviting remixes from fans and fellow musicians — but as with many instrumental backings of pop songs, the track is entirely listenable to all on its lonesome. More info at her website, madworldrecords.com.