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Fredrik Saroea – Photo Credit: Dag Sandven
Fredrik Saroea, frontman of the beloved tracksuit sporting disco-punk outfit DATAROCK, has struck out on his own to explore an entirely new sound. Teaming up with the award-winning string quartet BIT20 Ensemble, he will release a brand-new solo record Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live at Greig Hall, out May 13 via YAP Records. Today, the Big Takeover is thrilled to premiere the latest single from that collection, “Bulletproof Vest.”
After more than two decades fronting disco-punk demigods DATAROCK, Saroea finally strips off his tracksuit and all the trappings that came with it. Supported by BIT20’s sensuous strings, Saroea gets up close and personal with “Bulletproof Vest” — a heartfelt, intimate number that belies its name.
With intricately weaving arrangements from Bjørn Morten Christophersen, “Bulletproof Vest” sees Saroea building a vulnerable and reverberant snowfall of melodies, offering a contemplative take on the original track with a confident watercourse of strings that will carry you to the end on its current.
Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live at Greig Hall is a 12-song companion piece of sorts to Saroea’s first solo record. Rona Diaries, re-recorded with the BIT20 Ensemble live at Grieg Hall during Norway’s 69th annual Bergen International Festival, and includes two chamber arrangements of Datarock songs as bonus tracks.
“As soon as I started recording ‘Bulletproof Vest’ — for my first solo album, Rona Diaries — I, of course, started banging the drums and playing melodic lead guitar and bass, and… off you go, bye max minimalism,” Saroea exclusively told the Big Takeover. “This new orchestrated version is so much closer to what I wanted the song to be in the first place, as intensely, intimately, uncomfortably, and beautifully as possible about … torn between engagingly emotional, observing, understanding and suffering. But youthful and jam-packed with (undergrad) classic references.”
Check out the Big Takeover’s exclusive premiere of the “Bulletproof Vest” video here:
Pre-save Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live at Greig Hall here.
For more on Saroea, go here:
