Paycheque's Romantic Synth-Pop Lives in the Moment
Credit: Sandi Denton
Born out of a meeting on a patio, Los Angeles’ Paycheque captures the tension between desire and instability in a shimmering, synth-driven detail. The duo of Allison Goldfarb and Jackson MacIntosh of beloved bands TOPS and Drugdealer craft romantic pop driven by ‘80s influences, while being grounded in the realities of modern life. With their debut release out this Friday and a first tour ahead, Goldfarb and MacIntosh are embracing the impermanent, leaning into change and the fleeting moments that shape both their sound and their story.
I had the opportunity to chat with the duo ahead of their self-titled release dropping on Mansion and Millions, as they reflect on their history, creative process, and themes that run throughout their music.
REVERIE: Who is Paycheque, and how did the project begin?
J: Paycheque is the duo of Allison Goldfarb and Jackson MacIntosh. We started making music together in 2022, but we didn’t release anything until 2023. We initially met on the patio at Zebulon, a stalwart LA venue/hang, where we were both attending a mutual friend’s show.
A: Jackson and I bonded over a shared love of sophisti-pop. He made me a mix that had a deep cut synth pop track called “I Wanna Discover You” by a group called She Male. I loved the charming naivete of the song and we began talking about starting a project inspired by it.
REVERIE: How does your band name “Paycheque” reflect your identity and contrast with your influences?
J: It’s spelled the Canadian way, which reflects me being Canadian. The name is aspirational, because we would like to make loads of money.
A: Sometimes I joke that we named our band Paycheque as a manifestation technique. But I actually think it reflects the frustrations of trying to get by as an artist in a city like Los Angeles. So much mental space is taken up trying to make ends meet. I’m pretty sure the name came from complaining about being broke and saying, “I need a massive paycheck.”
REVERIE: Your upcoming self-titled LP drops June 12th. How would you describe its overall sound and inspiration?
A: Romantic, nocturnal, synth pop for modern times.
REVERIE: How do you incorporate ’80s pop influences while still making the music feel current?
J: Our mixing engineer, Jorge Elbrecht, who is a great musician and songwriter in his own right, makes a concerted effort to make our songs sound less retro than they might if we were left to our own devices… he’s really good at making sure that our songs have a modern sounding low end in particular. We don’t want to end up in the retro synthpop dungeon.
REVERIE: Themes of impermanence come up a lot- what draws you to that idea?
A: Life as an artist can be extremely unstable. It’s an anxiety that’s always running in the background. When you’re doing well you’re worried about how long it can last, when you’re not you’re worried about how long you can get by. It’s also something I struggle with, forming strong attachments to people and places and accepting that the only certainty is that they’ll change.
REVERIE: What aspects of Los Angeles life or culture show up in your music?
J: Car culture, hanging out in parking lots, cruising, traffic, stop lights… these all make multiple appearances across the record, lyrically. The cars shape the city, and we spend a lot of time in our cars and in traffic. It’s isolating, but it is also a great time to listen to music, to sing along to demos without anyone else hearing. When we were making the record, we both had almost identical early 80s Mercedes Benzes, and the feel of being in those cars really shaped the record, in a funny way.
REVERIE: How did collaborations like Jane Penny’s contribution shape the final album?
J: Jane is my bandmate in TOPS, and is an old friend. She was in town preparing for a tour, and we had a day off from rehearsing, so Allison and I asked her to come over and blow a little flute on “Temporary Love,” which we were finishing up at the time. Jane’s got a great melodic sensibility, so we kinda let her take the lead with the line that she played.
The only other collaborator we had on the record was Jorge Elbrecht, who has been a crucial sounding board and cheerleader to us. He’s always our first listener and he’s always got a good take on whatever the song needs (or, just as often, doesn’t need).
REVERIE: Do you have a favorite track on the LP, and why?
J: My personal favorite on the record is Repeater - it’s kind of a subtle anthem, and I’m really proud of how it turned out.
A: I might have to second Repeater. The outro on that song is a highlight of the record for me. I also love Temporary Love. It’s one of the first songs we ever started writing together and the very last one we finished for the record. It feels like all the growth we’ve had writing music together can be tracked from where that song started and its final form.
REVERIE: Anything you’d like to shout out or share with listeners?
J: We’re going on tour in August for the first time ever and we’re really excited - we’re playing shows in the US and Canada with our friends Born At Midnite.
A: Also, tons of our friends have records coming out around the same time as us. Born at Midnite, Marci, Cate Kennan, Josh Da Costa and more…a really exciting time for our little music community.