Photo Credit: Alejandro Zuniga Pena (@alejopz)
By Alissa Arunarsirakul // March 6, 2020
Prepare to have your minds blown because we’re about to introduce you to one of the greatest indie pop bands of our time: HOAX. Comprised of Michael Raj and Frantz Cesar, HOAX crafts a self-described “empathy pop” genre that will have you genuinely appreciating the beauty in sadness. Although we thought HOAX couldn’t impress us more than they already have, the Queens duo is proving us wrong with the irresistible “more than you know.”
On “more than you know,” HOAX shared,
“‘more than you know’ is about the unspoken acknowledgements, understandings, and sacrifices in love over the readily observable and easily said aspects. The initial inspiration for the lyrics stemmed from exploring the parallels between my parents’ traditional arranged marriage — where your parents find you a best match — and modern dating app romances — where an algorithm finds you a best match.”
The indie-pop waltz soundscape we hear in “more than you know” is already enough reason to adore HOAX, but Raj and Cesar take it to another level with their intricate lyricism. The Beach Boys and Elvis inspired track compares modern dating app romances with traditional arranged marriages in a way that makes you completely reevaluate your perspective on love and romance. If you haven’t already, we suggest you add “more than you know” and literally all of HOAX’s discography to your playlists because there’s no end in sight for this immaculate indie pop act.
“I’ve recently been obsessing over the idea of algorithms, especially modern romances that propelled from dating apps. We would put trust into an algorithm that finds us matches based on different factors of convenience. You can trust in a computational programmed algorithm to find your perfect match — very much like how my parents trusted an analog version of an algorithm (aka my grandparents) to find a spouse.”
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