Most electronica lovers haven't heard music like this in a while. Pablo Starr, an electronic producer and indie artist with an eclectic history, self-produced his new single while living in Paris. 

With his mind on love, loss, and the healing that can come with carrying memory into a better life, Pablo Starr wrote optimistic lyrics for this jazzy electronic track steeped in his distinctive bossa nova sound. It reminds listeners of old-fashioned '90s electronic music when the word "techno" first entered the conversation.

Starr's a Louisiana native and a lifelong musical aspirant, but he's become a globetrotter and wide-ranging artist. He's lived in LA, New York, and now Paris and is also known as the founder of Fashion Week Online. Starr has an eye for culture, media, aesthetics, and the narratives that can be created by combining them. 

His musical efforts are part of his Cyberpink Music project, which he describes as "a musical project and graphic novel in development about a band fighting injustice while not making music." 

However, Starr is serious about his musical aspirations, crediting electronic icons like Daft Punk and bossa nova masters like Jobim for his inspiration.

Telling the Story of Life With a Bossa Nova Bop

The fast-bouncing rhythm that launches the new single "Story of Life (Sorrow of Love, Joy of Music)" is made of the electronic beeps, boops, and barks of classic electronica from an age when self-proclaimed "cyberpunks" cross-wired analog soundboards and tape decks. When Starr's lyrics come in, the filter is also familiar, giving it the lo-fi echo that was inevitable on earlier sound equipment. 

If nostalgia was Starr's goal, he hit it perfectly, and why shouldn't he? Memory is a significant theme of the track.

The lyrics sing about love lost and the importance of remembering the good times. "I'm still living all the good times we had," Starr sings. It's better to remember them than to be here sad." This brings us back to the "Joy of Music" part of the title.

"In many ways, this song is a meditation on how memories of love stay with us, like flickers of light we can revisit anytime," says Starr. Losing love but carrying the memory and turning it into joy through music is one way to tell the story of a life that many music fans have lived. 

Starr says, "I wanted 'Story of Life' to encapsulate that duality of warmth and ache, which are such natural parts of life. It's a celebration of the imagination, and I hope this track resonates with people who have their own stories of love and loss."

A Project of Aesthetics and Memory

Starr's music's nostalgic ’80s—'90s vibes match the aesthetic of his Cyberpink project, which recalls the more energetic, rebellious, and brightly colorful flavor that defined cyberpunk before it turned goth around the turn of the century. The larger project spends a lot of energy reflecting on how people's visions–of themselves and the world–have changed through the lens of music, aesthetics, and hopes for the future.

If you're interested in hearing Pablo Starr's music or seeing where he's going with this whole Cyberpink project, the best thing you can do is find him on his Instagram or elsewhere online.