Synthpop
ALBUM REVIEW: Kelly Lee Owens – ‘Inner Song’: leftfield tronica beauty soars
IT’S been a quite a journey that’s led Kelly Lee Owens to the place where she is now, garnering critical praise from all quarters and Welsh queen-elect of that sweet spot where halcyon pop meshes into intelligent dance music with a deft touch. I really don’t think there is anyone else who has such nuance …
TRACK: Metronomy – ‘The Light’ (Kero Kero Bonito remix): a modern synthpop marriage
IT MAKES absolute sense, when you think about it: take the art-synth-pop of Metronomy, take also further intelligent pop experimenta via the futurist J-pop and shoegaze-informed stylings of Kero Kero Bonito, and put ‘em together. Why had no one thunk of that before? Metronomy haved shared a new remix of “The Light”, the cool, detached, …
SEE: the glamorous and glittery new video for Erasure’s ‘Nerves Of Steel’
VINCE CLARKE and Andy Bell, better known to all and sundry as electropop legends Erasure, have just released the video for their latest single, “Nerves of Steel”: watch with us, below. The none-more-glamorous video clip features more than 20 LGBTQIA+ stars, including several best known for their appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Andy said: “This is …
ALBUM REVIEW: Liela Moss – ‘Who the Power’: pop that takes one last dance as the world ends
OVER the past couple of years and one very warmly received LP, Duke Spirit member and Bella Union solo artiste Liela Moss – watch your vowel placement with care, folks – has carved herself something of a niche for a strong and dark pop draught, heady with intensity, 80s’ melodicism, courage and a complete willingness …
TRACK: Hen Ogledd – ‘Trouble’: further glorious wonkpop from Richard Dawson’s quartet
WHAT started as a side-project for Newcastle’s premiere exponent of passionate out- and wyrd-folk, Richard Dawson, to find an outlet for other musical stylings, has come to take on a wonk-pop life of its own. Originally a side-salad duo with harpist Rhodri Davies, the addition of Dawn Bothwell and Sally Pilkington has fleshed it out …
TRACK: 0171 – ‘Photograph’: yearning Hackney synthpop
COMING at you out of Hackney – that dialling-code epithet giving away their inner London roots- synth-pop duo Joe Bedell-Brill and Georgie Hoare, who record as 0171, have shared their vision for a retro-future pop form with “Photograph”, the fast-cut video montage for which you can watch below. “Photograph” has this pure pop yearn, set …
TRACK: Tree Trunks – ‘Reaction’: elegant synthpop for a lovers’ summer
LONDON outfit Tree Trunks have been around for a little while now, nibbling at pristine pop, picking up airplay, seducing the ears. There’s been four singles in the past couple of years proffering a line in intelligent, pristine synthpop, taking on influences such as the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Talking Heads and Frank Ocean to bring …
SEE: AK/DK’s ‘Shared Particles’ leads for third LP
BRIGHTON’S double-drum synth groove assassins AK/DK are back in the (twin) saddle, and have shared a video for “Shared Particles” (watch below) as a taster for album number three, which shares a title and which is down for an August 28th release date. And fans needn’t worry: there’s no ‘difficult third’ syndrome at work here; …
Album review: Sofie – Cult Survivor
STEEPED in music and musicality for most of her life, Viennese chanteuse Sofie Fatourechi has been quietly working away in the industry in various guises for a long while; but now, after a paradigm shift in her life, it’s time for a little limelight for herself with her first album of songs, Cult Survivor, on …
ALBUM REVIEW: The Gist – ‘Interior Windows’
CARDIFF’S Young Marble Giants subverted the revolution while the fires were still lit. In an age when guitars were razor-loud and lyrics were spat, the Welsh four-piece turned it right back down to a female-led fragility. One album was recorded for Rough Trade before fragmentation and the group’s main protagonists went firing off in different …