The story behind Faceless Design Collective’s albums
A closer look at the Faceless Design Collective albums, from NEON KISSES and PULSE & SIN to RIPTIDE and SWEAT, and how each release fits into Netty Neal’s wider creative world.
Faceless Design Collective may have a wider conceptual world built around technology, storytelling and AI, but creator Netty Neal says the music itself comes from somewhere much more personal.
Across the growing FDC catalogue, experiences, relationships, memories and imagined moments have all found their way into songs spanning very different emotional stages.
Speaking exclusively to SoapLandTV, Netty explained that the albums should not be read as the story of one relationship or one person.
“They’re definitely not all about one person, one relationship or one lost love. There are pieces of four particularly significant people scattered throughout the albums, alongside lived experiences, imagined experiences and things I perhaps wish I’d said at the time.”
That mixture helps explain why the records can feel so different from one another. Rather than repeating the same musical or emotional idea, each album explores another stage of attraction, relationships, distance or loss while remaining part of the same wider FDC catalogue.
NEON KISSES and PULSE & SIN focus on the excitement and intensity at the beginning of attraction, drawing on lust, nightlife, chemistry and dancing. Netty also links the electronic dance and club influences to her own musical life, giving those records a personal connection beyond the stories within the songs.
TIDES moves into a more established stage of relationships, exploring the turbulence, ordinary days, highs and lows that arrive once the initial excitement begins to settle. It reflects the way feelings can shift over time as everyday life starts to shape a relationship.
OCEANS takes the catalogue somewhere quieter and more reflective. The record grew from the experience of falling for someone separated by another country and an actual ocean, exploring distance and the difficult realisation that something can feel completely genuine while still being impossible to sustain.
That emotional journey becomes more intense with RIPTIDE. Netty describes it as “probably my rawest and angriest record”, representing the point where loving somebody can also mean accepting that letting them go may be necessary.
The catalogue changes direction again with SWEAT, helped along by Netty’s digital studio companion and alter ego Mina. The project explores a darker, slower and more sensual alternative-R&B sound, giving FDC another opportunity to move into a different musical space without losing the identity connecting the wider catalogue.
Despite the changes in sound and subject matter, Netty says one element remains constant across all of the records.
“Across all of it, though, the common denominator is emotion. Some songs whisper it. Some drown in it. Some put an enormous bassline underneath it!”
That is perhaps the clearest way to understand the Faceless Design Collective albums. Each record occupies a different emotional space, but all of them begin with something personal before being developed through Netty’s wider creative process.
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Image: Faceless Design Collective
