Rough Trade Books

A singer’s voice has to be believable, even though singing itself is performative

My friend Mocky calls Frank Sinatra the first techno artist, because he used the microphone to place his voice right against the ear of the listener, whispering sweet nothings in a kind of proto-ASMR.

It was the beginning of a long and painful goodbye to my worship of show-offs. Why had I spent so much time venerating these fast-fingered con artists? Looking back, I see them for the fakers and charlatans they were.

I was one of those fakers. I’d been (mis)using music to impress people, instead of connecting with them