Sometimes the good life isn’t always what it seems. Pat Berlinquette explores that through his music, and “Old New York” is an especially chilling tale. Both professionally and in his music, Berlinquette, who works as a Google marketer, is interested in the ways technology insidiously traps us and isolates us into a world of our own making.
“‘Old New York’ is about a man who has one foot in this world & one foot in the world of Augmented Reality. He is riddled with Neuralink modifications. There is a dystopian sort of ‘Hills Like White Elephants‘ exchange happening between him and a woman,” explains Berlinquette, referencing the Ernest Hemingway short story. “The man is trying to convince her—she is adamant about staying fully human—to join him in denouncing the physical body and go exploring a virtual, nostalgic city (which was otherwise possible through imagination), where no one is unnatural.”
You wouldn’t catch that just from listening to the song, though. Berlinquette does his best Sinatra here, with a thrilling and nostalgic performance designed to amplify the glitz and glamor of Ratpack-era New York (and the Hamptons. And Atlantic City.) The wild abandon is balanced by Berlinquette’s expert storytelling.