Synth Single Review: “One Hundred Miles” by Perfect Female Type

by Karl Magi

Perfect Female Type’s “One Hundred Miles” unfolds with hopeful life. The song starts as gossamer sounds glide along with slowly twinkling notes and flashes of brilliant light. A gargantuan drumbeat and propulsive bass move with arpeggios, swirling with neon luminescence before a melody trumpets with encouragement.

Jason Herrboldt’s voice is energizing, carrying a dreaming melody as steady underpinnings throb. The chorus shines out with exuberance and life as Jason Herrboldt captures the sensation of the lyrics. The sense of motivation bursting out from the words excites me as softly tapping drums add guidance.

The saxophone grabs me with a gut-deep feeling, tearing out with explosive vibrancy. The chorus floats with gripping emotion, reaching for the horizon. The saxophone slips in with vivacity and a feeling of engagement, its reedy voice crying to the heavens before silence falls.

“One hour to the night, five years go up in smoke,” as the narrator points out that there is nothing else to say. He adds, “another mile goes by, wrong or right, going through the motions until you see the light,” explaining that the song’s subject is just another lonely runaway.

Our storyteller says that “one hundred miles from tomorrow, you know you’ve got one night to outrun the sorrow,” as he points out that it is not the same and that “you’ve read your name in the stars tonight.” He adds that the subject is welcoming the lines on the open road and “bracing for the fight.”

“Turn down a different road, unlock another life,” while dreaming of a shelter from the storm, as the storyteller says, “it’s 4:00 a.m. and on the radio a message to the lonely, for anyone awake: you’re never truly on your own.”