Galen Tipton should not be confused with Glenn Tipton.
| Galen Tipton | |
| Alias: | recovery girl |
| Birth Date: | 25 March 1993 |
| Occupation: | Musician, Sound Producer |
| Years Active: | 2010s - present[1] |
| Label: | [2] |
Galen Tipton (born 1996), also known as Recovery Girl, is an American musician.[3] She is the founder of the Community Garden record label. Her sound has been described as an experimental electronica fusion of ASMR sounds, IDM and the hyperreality focus of hyperpop. Her music has gone viral on the TikTok platform.[4]
Tipton grew up in a small farm town, where she was “one of the weird kids” who spent a lot of time immersed in the world of fiction novels and video games.[5] She considers this an influence on her music, which she has branded in the realm of fantasy and science fiction.
She was first inspired to make music playing Guitar Hero 2 as a child.[6]
According to Tipton she started the recovery girl project as a method of self therapy for working through her trauma. She chose the name "Recovery Girl" after the My Hero Academia character of the same name because she identified with her healing powers. Galen Tipton is a transgender woman and was encouraged by a trend of dissonant, pitch shifted vocals in hyperpop to express herself without vocal dysphoria under the "recovery girl" name.
Tipton is part of a duo called "Digifae" together with singer/producer Diana Starshine.
Her music has been described as "hyperactive and intentionally overstimulating digital orchestral soundscapes".[7] According to Pitchfork: "..largely improvised chords and melodies acting secondarily to the constant rush of squelching synthesis underneath. A hypercute take on avant-garde synth music".[8] Her music has been praised by figures like Iggy Pop and David Byrne.[9]
She said in an interview that she intended to make accessible experimental electronic music that didn't take itself seriously, partly in reaction to the more self serious inaccessible experimental music she was interested in at the start of her career, to invite people to stranger forms of music.
She has cited SOPHIE as an influence for her sound design, textural elements, experimentation and "Her whole public coming out, and all of the songs related to her trans-ness and identity gave me so much life, as a non-binary, trans girl producer".[10] She has also cited the formlessness of early Arca music and her interest in nature aesthetics and folklore, ASMR and field recordings Other influences include minimalist composer Steve Reich, 100 gecs, Machine Girl, street sects, Deli Girls, Giant Claw
She has cited the Japanese footwork music scene as an influence, “I don’t consider my music footwork, by any stretch, but I feel a strong creative kinship with the Japanese experimental scene that dabbles in footwork. To me, the music these artists make sounds like pure freedom and play, and that’s the space I like to create from—one of unrestricted expression and emotion.”[11]
| Year | Title | Label | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Spell Books O1 ::: Ideonella Sakaiensis | Them There Records | ||
| 2017 | treats 2! | [12] | ||
| 2018 | QUEER FLESH | postgeography | [13] | |
| 2018 | Nightbath | DESKPOP | ||
| 2019 | fake meat | Orange Milk | [14] [15] | |
| 2020 | Ungoliant | Orange Milk | ||
| 2020 | Goddex | Orange Milk | [16] | |
| 2020 | carepackage | |||
| 2021 | You Right | Upclose Records | ||
| 2022 | Nymptones | |||
| 2022 | cycles | |||
| 2022 | phone mouth music | |||
| 2023 | brain scratch | Self released |
| Year | Title | Label | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | recovery girl | |||
| 2021 | recovery girl & friends (mixtape) | |||
| 2021 | Nausea Pop, Vol. 1 | |||
| 2022 | Grit Ur Teeth (mixtape) | |||
| 2022 | Nausea Pop, Vol. 2 | |||
| 2022 | Nausea Pop, Vol. 3 |