Galaxy of Love 🌾📡✨
Your eyes are shining on a beam through the galaxy of love
Greetings everyone!
Moving forward, I’ll aim to record and share voiceovers for my Substack posts, not only because I’d love to make them more accessible, but also because I find there’s nothing like hearing a writer read their own words aloud, and of course, for the sheer love of the human voice.
NYC had its first snow yesterday, and today is Neil Young’s 80th birthday! Stereogum invited me to write about my favorite song, along with 80 other artists.
Here’s what I had to say about Transformer Man, in writing & video:
“Three guesses to tell me who this is.” The first time I heard Neil Young’s 1983 album Trans was in a sun-soaked room in Prospect Heights, cooking breakfast with my partner at the time. They put on “Transformer Man,” goaded me on, and I squinted, stumped, trying to eliminate the obvious yet obviously wrong: Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno. I was saved when I recognized a familiar guitar riff peeking out between the post-chorus and bleeding guitar solo of “Little Thing Called Love.” Whether a seed planted out-of-time, or celestial transmission from a future self, it is the unmistakable melody that would later underpin 1992’s iconic “Harvest Moon.”
The songs on the album swing from boldly experimental to quintessentially Young, but my first impression still rests on “Transformer Man,” and how immediately it perplexed and captivated me. I was content to imagine it simply as a bold creative pivot, or a blithe ode to the toy figurines (coincidentally born the same year as the album), until I learned about this period of Young’s life. In the years leading up to the album’s release, Young’s son Ben, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth and non-verbal, was under constant medical supervision. Young transmutes this experience through production techniques pioneered by his new-wave and art-pop contemporaries, using a Sennheiser VSM201 vocoder to mediate his iconic singing voice. Carried by lyrics such as “Your eyes are shining on a beam/ Through the galaxy of love/ Transformer man/ Unlock the secrets/ Let us throw off the chains that hold you down,” robotic synthesis becomes a vehicle for his expression of fatherly love and human tenderness, while underscoring his breakthroughs in communication with his son.
Though it’s in many ways an outlier in Young’s catalog — one that may have contributed to an eventual $3.3 million lawsuit filed by Geffen Records for his “uncharacteristic” creative departure — “Transformer Man” exemplifies his relentless innovation as an artist, and Young described it at the time as being one of his “favorite,” “most sensitive, acoustic songs.” It meditates on technology, communication, and the future of music through a profoundly human lens, hinting at a wider consciousness that feels almost prescient — awestruck by limits of language, which, even with the help of machines, can reach only so far in the vastness of the cosmos.
If you’re in need of a playlist, here’s one I shared via The voice of Cassandre Mixtape, which aired last week on radio stations across France, Greece & the UK.
In other news, I’ve joined the Belly Chorus, a local vocal ensemble dedicated to songs from folk, classical, experimental, and popular traditions. Last week’s rehearsal ended on a high note— we were singing Judee Sill’s “Lopin’ Along Thru the Cosmos” when the news broke that Mamdani would be our next Mayor, and we finished off the night with a celebratory slice. 🍕 I also celebrated Constant Smiles’ new album, Moonflowers, at their release show with Evan Wright, & Trio, QasimNaqviZeerakAhmedGreyMcmurray
Lastly, tickets are on sale for my upcoming NYC show & Chicago shows! Belly Chorus will be opening in NYC. Come one come all!
And as always
🖖 Keep reading 🌈,
xo Cassandra
