"My parents were the very first computer-matched couple," notes Pete Cafarella (right), the vocalist and gui-board player of Brooklyn-based, synth-rock duo Shy Child, "which means that I'm the perfect human being." As his partner, vocalist and drummer Nate Smith (left), grins knowingly, their friend Emily Powers (center) -- who, with Smith, comprise another band, experimental bass-and-drums outfit Touchdown -- isn't having it. "No, I'm the perfect human," she says. "My parents were not matched by machine." Cafarella responds, "My parents are still together." "Well mine aren't," Powers says, and Cafarella stops the discussion. "What the fuck are we talking about?" he asks. The other two shrug.
They're not inseparable enough to read each others' minds, but they are close. Individually, all three are musically active: Cafarella splits his spare time between El Guapo and the ABCs, Smith has drummed for local synth-pop apologists Soviet and psych-rock threesome Dynasty, and Powers is a member of new all-girl group Wikkid.
The boys have known each other since they were undergrads at Wesleyan, and they met Emily while living in Washington, D.C. Smith and Cafarella founded Shy Child in the summer of 2000, and after recording a Kraftwerk-inspired demo disc, the group was signed to Montreal record label Grenadine. They then released Please Consider Our Time, a collection of progressive electro songs. In the meantime, Touchdown recorded for New Jersey-based record label Troubleman Unlimited. Both groups sound like no one else in the New York rock scene. "When it comes down to music versus image," Smith says, "we're firmly on the musical side of things."
JONATHAN DURBIN
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