Browsing Tag

Synth Pop

Softmax connects through disjointed isolation in her Lynchian installation of electronica, Swishers

Posted on 9 August 2023
Softmax

Silence fell after the 2022 debut EP, But What If There Isn’t?, from the Chicago-native Softmax; in her time away from the airwaves, she honed her craft and primed herself for her latest single, Swishers.

Co-produced by Joel Ford, of How to Dress Well fame, and Berlin’s premier electronica producer, Gabriel Gifford, Swishers sets a dramatically Lynchian tone to create a dystopian synthpop backdrop for the portrayal of inwardly imploding isolation while everyone falsifies their lives online.

The sentiment is just as resonant as the score orchestrated to depict the agonisingly disjointing feelings. Clearly, Softmax has a talent for reflecting the rawest facets of the human experience back at us. The syncopated beats and oscillating synths paint a portrait of how it feels when black holes of alienation form as a fixture in the arrangement of your bedroom furniture.

In her own words: “It’s about wanting to connect with the world and understand people while feeling further and further from it,”

Swishers will hit the airwaves on August 9th as a courtesy of the London-based indie record label, Psychotic Reaction Music. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ell South hit the ground ‘Running’ with her sophomore 80s synth-carved pop single

Posted on 5 August 2023

For her latest single, Running, the endlessly accoladed singer-songwriter Ell South fused ethereal artfulness and synth-carved 80s nostalgia to invite her audience into an aural chamber of honesty, vulnerability, and clarity.

Anyone who has ever known how brutal a battle of wills can be when you are going up against your own mind will see themselves reflected in a crystal-clear mirror when they allow the all-consuming vocal harmonies to take control of their psyche.

The stabbing synth lines with 80s-esque massive percussion and driving basslines give the track the same sense of resilience that radiates from the lyricism, while the lashings of reverb in the poetically illuminating atmosphere will sell sanctuary to the soul – especially the ones weary with ennui.

A certain degree of the authenticity within Ell South’s sound stems from her Welsh and Slovenian roots. She saw music as a right of passage after coming of age in a musical family and clearly came into her own while leaning on an eclectic array of influences.

Since making her debut, her music has featured on BBC Radio Wales, and her debut single launch was performed to a capacity crowd. She’s perceptively on the rise, but something tells us that won’t stop her from reaching out to her fans to lift them when they’re down.

Running hit the airwaves on the 25th of July; you can hear it by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

ARO’s fierce femme aesthetic picked up luscious vehemence in her moody synth-pop single, Let Me Go

Posted on 28 July 2023
ARO

The LA-hailing singer-songwriter ARO singlehandedly defined the future of pop with her debut evocative synth masterpiece, Let Me Go.

With far more soul than your average earworm and her sonic signature scribing distinction through every succinct progression, this emotionally heated hit is the ultimate moody moving-on anthem.

By painting with light and dark tones, the process of coming into your own away from what no longer serves you was euphonically visualised in Let Me Go. With just as much lyrical depth as Mitski and Louise Dacus paired with an electro-pop score that cushions the blows of the sharp lyricism with lush reverb, it is only a matter of time before ARO is considered LA pop royalty.

“So much of my art is about giving the darker parts of myself a platform. There are these aspects of myself that cannot be tamed, and so instead of beating my head against a wall trying to control them I’ve found that my art allows me to be in relationship with them. When I write I’m not butting in to tell them how they should be, I’m not trying to get them to behave, or do better, or have a positive outlook, I’m just letting that part of me speak freely. And I learn a lot about myself through this process.”

Check out Let Me Go on all major streaming platforms from July 28, or hit ARO’s official website for more info.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ell South hit the ground ‘Running’ with her sophomore 80s synth-carved pop single

Posted on 28 July 2023

For her latest single, Running, the endlessly accoladed singer-songwriter Ell South fused ethereal artfulness and synth-carved 80s nostalgia to invite her audience into an aural chamber of honesty, vulnerability, and clarity.

Anyone who has ever known how brutal a battle of wills can be when you are going up against your own mind will see themselves reflected in a crystal-clear mirror when they allow the all-consuming vocal harmonies to take control of their psyche.

The stabbing synth lines with 80s-esque massive percussion and driving basslines give the track the same sense of resilience that radiates from the lyricism, while the lashings of reverb in the poetically illuminating atmosphere will sell sanctuary to the soul – especially the ones weary with ennui.

A certain degree of the authenticity within Ell South’s sound stems from her Welsh and Slovenian roots. She saw music as a right of passage after coming of age in a musical family and clearly came into her own while leaning on an eclectic array of influences.

Since making her debut, her music has featured on BBC Radio Wales, and her debut single launch was performed to a capacity crowd. She’s perceptively on the rise, but something tells us that won’t stop her from reaching out to her fans to lift them when they’re down.

Running hit the airwaves on the 25th of July; you can hear it by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

NY’s Premier Synth-Driven Rock n Roll Outfit, After the Echo, Found a New Way to Ride the Retrowaves in I Like The Way You Do:

Posted on 26 July 2023
Only Stars by After The Echo

The Brooklyn-based synth-driven rock n roll trio After the Echo laid the reverb-drenched retrowave nostalgia on thick in their latest single, I Like the Way You Do.

There are synth & guitar carved crescendo-esque hooks by the smorgasbord in the single that is authentically 80s enough that it sounds like it could have been prised from your favourite 80s flick soundtrack. While the lyrics portray a portrait of irreplicable passion from the perspective of a far-from-perfect protagonist who feels alienated by the world that surrounds them, the dreamy new wave synths and strident guitar hooks will immerse you in the soundscape so deeply you’ll find yourself torn from the 21st century.

Far from your average love song, the songwriting chops that constructed I Like The Way You Do allow romanticism to ooze from the pores of each instrumental, including the sax lines from Mitch Marcus, the pulls of the violin strings from Michael Hunter, and the massive 80s drum fills as a courtesy of the third featuring artist, Dan Caruso.

Stream and purchase I Like The Way You Do, which features on After the Echo’s LP, Only Stars, via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bomb Voyage has debuted his compassionately choral RnB dream pop serenade, Serenity

Posted on 20 July 2023

With melodically intricate indie guitars and synths that wouldn’t be out of place in a Cigarettes After Sex single, Bomb Voyage created a hazily dreamy atmosphere for his classic RnB vocals to soak into in his latest single, Serenity.

Hedonistic and self-destructive behaviour may have been normalised to the point it has been glamorised in contemporary culture; instead of contributing to the acceptability of the toxicity of the trend, Bomb Voyage orchestrated a moody yet compassionate ballad to pay an ode to a female protagonist who has a proclivity towards excess.

Rather than painting a monster, Bomb Voyage used their lyrical empathy and beckoningly magnetic vocal lines to create a consoling release for anyone who needs the affirmation that even the most wayward souls deserve to be seen beyond their lifestyles.

Serenity is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Wassko has unveiled his moody RnB synth-pop rendezvous, Not Around

Posted on 15 July 2023

Wassko broke ground and hearts with his debut EP, Figured You’d Care, featuring the heartbreak hit of a standout single, Not Around. With a sonic signature that scribes itself between the Weeknd and The Midnight, Wassko reached the pinnacle of RnB-infused synth-pop style in Not Around, which becomes a dualistic lesson in sincerity with the vocal contribution from Rama, who gave the other side of the love story where elusiveness has severed the connection.

Even though the Haifa-residing artist only made his debut with his genre-melding sound, which frequently borrows from RnB, hip-hop, soul, EDM, and punk, last year, he’s already well on his way to establishing himself in the industry.

His 2023 EP is a testament to how honed his skills have become; it takes a fine balance of songwriting dexterity and sonic engineering to visualise such a complicated yet perfectly-rounded hit that paints raw emotion in kaleidoscopic colour, instead of the black and white lenses which are typically used to orchestrate love songs.

Not Around was officially released on June 30; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Misty Drinx went back to the golden era of pop via his debut space odyssey, Oh I Love That Song!

Posted on 3 July 2023

Knowing that there is no better feeling than falling head over ears for an infectiously funk-laden pop hit, the up-and-coming artist Misty Drinx brought about a brand-new era of electro-soul with the release of his debut single, Oh I Love That Song!

Going back to the golden era of pop via a space odyssey, the single sweeps you up in a nostalgic 80s atmosphere, constructed by the oscillating synth lines, polyphonic keys and swathes of reverb that aid the transcendent euphoria of Oh I Love That Song!

Lyrically, the single may pay an ode to the feeling of hearing a song and wishing you wrote it, but the sentiment will undoubtedly be the same from the moment you greet the melodious earworm. We’re already stoked to hear the sophomore hit from Drinx now he’s found his euphonic calling.

Check out the debut single from Misty Drinx on Spotify.

Keep up to date with future releases via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Von Venn illustrated the beauty of goodbyes in their 80s new wave single, In Time

Posted on 3 July 2023

As intrepidly melodic explorers of hope, loss, longing, nostalgia and attraction, Von Venn allow you to simultaneously experience all the aforementioned bitter-sweet sensations with their classic yet modernistically compelling guitar-driven indie singles.

Their latest slick with 80s new wave soul serenade, In Time, unravels as a panoramically rhythmic triumph which pulls you in from the first progression. From there on out, the melodies hold on tight with their ethereally caressive fluidity and refuse to let you go until you reach the slow fadeout, which proves how intrinsically entwined you become with the single, that illustrates the beauty in goodbyes.

With the singer and songwriter Gary Cox fusing his influences from Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, The Blue Nile, John Martyn, and John Lennon, Von Venn leaves nothing to be desired on the atmospheric originality front. The layered guitars against the harmonised vocals resound like a sonic Elysian dream.

In Time was officially released on June 23; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Good Time Locomotive dialled up the beguile in their synthpop sophomore single, Medusa

Posted on 27 June 2023

As one of the memorable synthpop outfits we’ve had the pleasure of putting on our radar in 2023, Good Time Locomotive is proving to be tough competition to their contemporaries. Especially after the release of the latest single, Medusa, which hauntingly demonstrates that lustful beguile is one of the most powerful forces known to man and mythology. The superlative single contests the adage that all is fair in love and war with the mind games that have become a frustrative cornerstone of seduction.

With their sophomore single, the London-hailing powerhouse moved away from their archetypal synthwave synthetics and started to forge their own sonic signature in their distinctively rhythmic guitar lines, jazzy time signatures and anthemic builds, which borrow a few sticky-sweet propensities from pop-punk anthems.

In the words of singer Hugo Leite;

‘It’s a song all about the power of infatuation and those who know how to wield it over us. The story of Medusa seemed like a fitting metaphor for that as she is, quite possibly, the most misunderstood character of all time. Beautiful? Yep, but deadly when fallen from grace!’ 🧟

Medusa was officially released on June 17th. Hear it on Spotify or watch the official music video via YouTube. For more info, head over to the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast