Category: Synth Pop

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Jenny Stevens and the Empty Mirrors Shares a Glistening, Club Banger

Welsh-born, Finnish-based singer/songwriter and musician Jenny Stevens, a.k.a. The Ukelele Girl is the creative mastermind behind the songwriting project Jenny Stevens and The Empty Mirrors, which sees Stevens pairing dark-alt pop with quirky visuals. 

Last year, Stevens released the The Distance Between Us EP, an effort that featured “The River Rolls On,” an atmospheric track that seemed indebted to the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure and Cocteau Twins. 

This year, Stevens released two more singles:

Stevens’ latest single “Unfinished Conversations” is a 90s house inspired banger featuring skittering beats, glistening synth arpeggios, brief bursts of guitar, and sinuous bass lines paired with Steven’s plaintive and ethereal vocals. While revealing an act that’s restlessly experimenting and pushing their sound in new directions, including towards the dance floor, the song also reveals an artist with an innate ability to craft an infectious hook.

The accompanying video is set in the relatively near future, where we see beautiful people dancing and vamping to the song — but we also see people tuning out in virtual reality. And throughout, there’s a sense that there are things left unsaid.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: MELRØSE Shares Sultry “Sexfriend”

Melrøse is an French electro pop duo — Anne-Camille and Anthony Bacou — that can trace its origins back to June 2020, when the romantic couple and musical collaborators decided to immortalize their relationship — and in turn, their love — in a song, written in a Los Angeles hotel room. 

The French electro pop duo released their debut EP, Nuit louve earlier this year and the EP features two tracks I wrote about last year:

  • “Poolside,” the first song that the duo wrote that June night back in 2020. Featuring skittering beats, swirling electronics and Anne-Camille’s achingly delicate delivery singing lyrics in French and English, “Poolside” evoked sultry, summer nights in bed with a lover while sonically nodding at Dummy-era Portishead.
  • “Insomnie,” another sensual bop featuring twinkling and arpeggiated synths paired with a relentless motorik groove and Anne-Camille’s coquettish delivery. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Insomnie” evokes a sultry summer nights — but restlessly tossing and turning because you’re sweaty, sticky and uncomfortable.

Nuit louve‘s latest single “Sexfriend” is a sultry, Quiet Storm-inspired bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, wobbling bass lines, and skittering beats paired with Anne-Camille’s sultry delivery and the duo’s unerring knack for razor sharp hooks. “Sexfriend” is a late night, cooed come-on, kisses on the neck, a longing to be touched at the right place, in the right fashion and at the right time . . .

The accompanying video for “Sexfriend” features MELRØSE’s Anne-Camille at the beach in a white, double-breasted, silk suit strolling the seashore at golden hour and swaying to the atmospheric song in the sea. Much like the song it accompanies, the video is subtle yet suggestive.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: R.I.P. Andy “Fletch” Fletcher

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the life and music of Depeche Mode’s Andy ‘Fletch” Fletcher.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: H2S04 Returns with a Slickly Produced, Hook-Driven Bop

Formed in Kent back in the late 90s, British electro pop act H2S04 — Graham Cupples (keys, programming), Darren Till (keys, programming) and James Butler (vocals, bass) — features a collection of accomplished musicians: Cupples previously led techno acts Mortal and Code. Till played with Cupples in Code. Butler contributed bass and vocals in indie rock act Lobster, which was once known as Sulpher. 

Initially tracing their origins back to when they started experimenting with a series of remixes, the members of H2S04 began writing original material that blended electronica, rock and techno paired with a special attention to songwriting. Their debut single, 1998’s “Little Soul,” quickly became popular in their native England — and because of its extremely limited release, a collector’s item.

The trio’s 1999 full-length debut Machine Turned Blues featured the aforementioned “Little Soul,” as well as “I Need Feel,” “The Way I Want,” and “Imitation Leather Jacket,” a track that was a favorite among British DJs that also received radio play here in the States. They supported Machine Turned Blues by playing a series of festivals across the British festival circuit, including Glastonbury — and they played shows in Canada and Chicago.

2000’s Glamtronica saw the British trio further establishing their sound while adding a playful sense of satire to the mix. The act largely disappeared until 2015’s Under Control and 2021’s Love and Death. 

2022 has been a busy year for the British trio with the release of two singles:

H2S04’s latest single “Electroworld” is a sleek and slickly produced track that continues a run of material that’s club and lounge friendly. Featuring thumping beats, glistening and wobbling synth arpeggios and Butler’s insouciant yet sultry delivery, “Electroworld” is rooted in the trio’s unerring knack for crafting an infectious, razor sharp hook.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: LEATHERS Shares a Glittery Synth Pop Confection

Shannon Hemmett is best known for playing synths and contributing vocals in Vancouver-based post punk outfit and JOVM mainstays ACTORS. Back in 2016, Hemmett stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her synth pop project LEATHERS.

With her first few singles as LEATHERS, saw Hemmett develop and then hone her own take on synth pop: 2016’s debut single “Missing Scene” channeled early 4AD Records-era Cocteau Twins. 2017’s “Day For Night” featured a softer, glittering hue that caught the attention of outlets like Diamond Deposits, I Die: You Die and Impose Magazine.

Those singles appeared on last year’s LEATHERS debut Reckless EP, which was released to praise from Post-Punk.com, Synthpop Fanatic, I Die: You Die, CBC Radio 3 and Exclaim!, who wrote that the EP was “pulsing eighth-note bass, mascara-streaked goth melodies and ’80s-worshipping pop sweetness” — while landing on their Essential Releases for August 2021.

Hemmett’s latest LEATHERS single “Runaway” is her first bit of new material since the release of Reckless EP. Featuring glistening synth arpeggios, rapid-fire four-on-the-floor, tweeter and woofer rattling thump, and an insistent motorik groove, paired with Hemmett’s plaintive, yearning elivery and her uncanny knack for crafting an infectious, razor sharp hook, “Runaway” is a slickly produced and swooning pop confection that’s lovingly indebted to 80s pop.

Directed by frequent ACTORS collaborator Wayne Moreheart, the accompanying video for “Runaway” nods to classic-era MTV pop videos: Hemmett and a backing band performing the video in a sparse studio with soft pink light, a wind machine and endlessly falling balloons. While being a bright splash of color, the video is about breaking free from mundane routines, letting go and just having fun.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Allegories Share Slow-Burning and Woozy “Funny Way”

Allegories — childhood friends Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — can trace their project’s origins to their penchant for indulging in unconventional musical pursuits. After founding anthemic, indie rock outfit The Rest, Bentley and Mitchell embraced any opportunity to indulge their more outeé inclinations and desires.

Back in 2014, Bentley and Mitchell began writing and recording material with no clear destination in mind, dabbling in everything from neoclassical compositions to hip hop. Gathering further inspiration from DJ’ing house and hip-hop nights, the act began to create electronic music that often shifts between the mainstream and underground spectrum. 

Throughout the past decade or so, the duo have had very busy schedules: Bentley currently works behind the scenes in the music industry. Mitchell operates a restaurant. But Allegories almost always found a way to creep back into their lives — even if only as a private amusement between the pair.

They spent the better part of a decade winnowing down 35 song ideas into their nine-song album Endless, their first full-length album in over 14 years. “There’s a moment during the marking of an album, where you don’t know if you’ll finish it,” Bentley and Mitchell say. “Endless was riddled with these cynical epiphanies. It’s unavoidable when you’ve spent over half a decade tinkering away. But as we closed in on the finish line, there was a sense that this could be the last work you ever complete. That spurs the process on, giving urgency. 

If you spend 14 years between albums, you want to make every note count.”

In the lead-up to the album’s release late last week, I’ve written about three singles:

  • “Pray” a bizarre yet winning mix of menace, irony and sincerity paired with an Evil Heat era Primal Scream meets Sound of Silver era LCD Soundsystem-like production.
  • “Constant,” a sugary sweet endorphin and dopamine rush centered around oscillating synth pulse and achingly plaintive vocal delivery paired with euphoric hooks. The end result is a song that simultaneously feels pleasant but also kind of off in a way that’s visceral but you can’t quite put your finger on. 
  • “Always True,” a glittery, late night, house banger centered around ominous synth pads, thumping beats and achingly plaintive vocals that slowly builds up to a woozy and dizzying crescendo before gently fading out. The song’s narrator wearily pushes on through some awkward social interaction that ironically enough they’ve desperately longed for because they’ve been isolated for so long.

Endless‘ fourth and latest single “Funny Way” is a slow-burning and atmospheric track centered around woozy synths and skittering thump paired with plaintive vocals. While the previously released singles were off-kilter and dripping with irony, “Endless,” may arguably be the most earnest song of the album.

“‘Funny Way’ is in many ways the beating heart of Endless. It is chronologically the earliest recording on this album, bridging a gap between two musical worlds in our lives,” the duo explain in press notes. “‘Funny Way’ holds a unique and earnest place within our catalogue of music.”

The accompanying visual is a lysergic affair featuring explosive flashes of color that look like auroras. Moving geometric shapes, which appear like flowers before quickly disappearing and reappearing are superimposed over the aurora-like flashes. Tune in and tune out to this one, y’all.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: A.M. Boys Share a Trippy Visual for Hypnotic “Traveler”

New York-based electronic duo A.M. Boys features two accomplished and grizzled scene vets:

  • John Blonde (synths, vocals), is an electronic musician and singer/songwriter, who was a principle member of JOVM mainstay act House of Blondes. As a solo artist, he releases material as Muscle Club.
  • Chris Moore, a producer, engineer, mixer, multi-instrumentalist, and electronic musician. As a producer and engineer, Moore has worked with David Bowie, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Scarlett Johansson, Foals, and OSEES. As an electronic musician, Moore has released solo work as Light Vortex and through a variety of other aliases through the years.

Blonde and Moore can trace their collaboration together back to meeting at an Aphex Twin listening party they attended back in 2014. The duo struck up an instant chemistry that resulted in a batch of original songs in 2018 using analog synths, drum machines, space echo and voice that paired clean, post-punk minimalism with a contemporary approach to rhythm and arrangement.

They sent Suicide’s Martin Rev one of their earliest tracks “Distance Decay,” and by the next day, they were offered an opening slot with the post-punk legend. The duo have shared a stage with Deerhunter side project Moon Diagrams, and they’ve played one of the most memorable sets at local, experimental venue Spectrum. As DJs, they’ve spun sets at Jupiter Disco, Troost, Sundown Bar, Wythe Hotel and several other spots across town.

The New York-based duo’s full-length debut Distance Decay is slated for a June 3, 2022 release. Written and recorded by the duo, at their Brooklyn-based studio Glowmatic Sound with additional vocal recording by Jeff Berner at Studio G, the album’s title is derived from a term that describes the pattern of criminals committing fewer crimes, the further they travel from their homes. Sonically, the ten-song album sees the members of A.M. Boys focusing on an intimate and minimalist approach to instrumentation and composition through the juxtaposition of rippling rhythms with melodic synth lines and ethereal vocals.

The album’s material as written during darkly lit, late night jam sessions influenced by post-punk and coldwave, along with their revered trinity of Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin and Prince — with one song being directly influenced by Throbbing Gristle. The recording sessions were deliberately pared down to allow the pair to recreate the songs live. For the duo, the minimal approach helped to yield material that develops a deeper emotional resonance with repeated listens. “We knew we didn’t want to layer too much, we felt that the songs sounded stronger with less. A lot of modern music can be fussy and cluttered, we wanted to present the music simply, gaining a transparent power,” Blonde explains.

During the height of the pandemic, Blonde and Moore holed up at their studio and recored an entire second album — and are currently working to incorporate some of that new material in their live sets. But in the meantime, Distance Decay‘s second single, “Traveler” is a mesmerizing and hypnotic track featuring skittering beats, glistening and oscillating synths paired with Blonde’s ethereal vocals and spacey feedback. While nodding at John Blonde’s previous work with House of Blondes and Kraftwerk, “Traveler” fittingly possesses a trippy cosmic air, the end result is a song that seems to be a perfect for late night space travel.

Directed and filmed by New York-based motion designer David-Lee Fiddler, the accompanying visual for “Traveler” was a deeply collaborative effort between Fiddler and the duo that incorporates live, in-studio footage shot by Doug Young, animated still photos taken by A.M. Boys’ John Blonde, which were used for the album’s cover art. The end result is a trippy and mesmerizing video that seems perfect for those with ASMR. The duo credit Fiddler with being an energetic director that “seemed capable of translating any idea we had into reality.” Blonde adds “The ‘Traveler’ video is what we think the electricity looks like inside our synthesizers.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jacque Ryal is a New York-based singer/songwriter, keyboardist and pop artist, who first emerged onto the local scene as a member of pop outfit Strip Darling before stepping out into the limelight as a solo artist. As a solo artist, Ryal crafted Portishead-inspired trip-hop.

RYAL, the New York-based artist’s latest project with producer and songwriter Aaron Nevezie has recieved attention from The Best Line of Best Fit, Time Out New York, LadyGunn, Popdust and elsewhere for releasing material that’s been compared to Little Dragon and the aforementioned Portishead.

The duo’s latest single “Best Friend” is a slickly produced bop centered around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats and shimmering bursts of guitar paired with Ryal’s achingly plaintive delivery, random puppy noises and the duo’s unerring ability to craft a razor sharp hook. Initially written as a lullaby dedicated to her beloved dog, who died, “Best Friend” eventually turned into a dreamy and anthemic bop that the duo recorded to tape. Despite its anthemic nature, “Best Friend” captures the unique and profound relationship one has with a faithful, animal friend.

With the single being released on National Pet Day — April 11, 2022 — the dup partnered with pet partners like Broadway Bitches and PupperCup, as well as animal rescues for charities.

The single’s artwork is collaborative fan art, where fans were asked to submit pictures of their pets. 20 of the submissions were selected and illustrated by Nashville-based artist Psychic Lemonade in a Brady Bunch-styled color block collage.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: MADSUN Teams Up with Naomi Wild on the Soulful and Yearning “You and Me”

MADSUN is a risng French-born electronic music producer, who currently splits his time between his native France and the States. His earliest tracks amassed over one-million streams and those tracks received media coverage in 25 countries.

Adding to a growing international profile, the rising French-born producer has had his music appear in ad campaigns for The Definite Article, as well as The Architect: Paris video game and the original soundtrack for the Lille, France-based European Film Festival.

MADSUN’s latest single “You and Me” is a slow-burning bit of synth pop centered around glistening synth arpeggios and thumping beats paired with Naomi Wild‘s soulful, yearning vocals singing about a profound and deep love shared between two soulmates.

Directed by MADSUN and Arctic Hue, and edited by Allan Fernandes and Mayur Sharma, the accompanying video for “You and Me” feature two 3D generated status facing each other and in a deep and loving embrace.

Electro Pop by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Florian Schneider!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 75h anniversary of the birth of Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Allegories Shares a Glittery House Inspired Banger

Allegories — childhood friends Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — can trace their origins to their penchant for indulging in unconventional musical pursuits. Even after founding anthemic, indie-rock outfit The Rest, they embraced any opportunity to indulge their more outré inclinations and desires. Back in 2014, Bentley and Mitchell began writing and recording material with no clear destination in mind, dabbling in everything from neoclassical compositions to hip hop. Gathering further inspiration from DJ’ing house and hip-hop nights, the act began to create electronic music that often shifts between the mainstream and underground spectrum. 

Throughout the past decade or so, Bentley and Mitchell have had busy schedules. Bentley currently works behind the scenes in the music industry. Mitchell operates a restaurant. But Allegories almost always found a way to creep back into their lives — if only as a private amusement between the duo. Eventually, they would wind up spending the better part of a decade winnowing down 35 song ideas into their 9-song album Endless, their first album in over 14 years. 

So far I’ve written about two of Endless‘ singles:

  • “Pray” a bizarre yet winning mix of menace, irony and sincerity paired with an Evil Heat era Primal Scream meets Sound of Silver era LCD Soundsystem-like production.
  • “Constant,” a sugary sweet endorphin and dopamine rush centered around oscillating synth pulse and achingly plaintive vocal delivery paired with euphoric hooks. The end result is a song that simultaneously feels pleasant but also kind of off in a way that’s visceral but you can’t quite put your finger on.

The album’s third and final single “Always True” is a glittery, late night, house banger centered around ominous synth pads, thumping beats and achingly plaintive vocals that slowly builds to a woozy and dizzying crescendo before gently fading out. The song’s narrator seems to wearily push on through some awkward social interaction that’s also strangely, something they desperately long for — because we’re all social creatures after all.

“‘Always True’ feels like the dark part at the end of the night,” the band explains. “The wrong side of 5am. A dark warehouse bouncing to ominous synth pads, and 909s. A sudden surge of energy, a second wind, one more dance while the night wears off.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Toxiq is a French electro pop act featuring two longtime friends: Les Matchboxx‘s Claire Deligny and Yul, a producer who specializes in a subtle yet percussive sound. Their collaborative project together draws from their 20+ year friendship and the years they’ve spent dancing, eating and crying together. Because of the pandemic, the project’s earliest batches of material were written and recorded at a distance — both physical and temporal.

Résiste Records released the duo’s debut EP Dans la bouche earlier this month. The EP features their critically applauded single “Drogue sure drogue douce” and their club-banging, synth-driven cover of  Bernard Lavillers‘ 1983 hit “Idées Noires” with Catherine Ringer.

The EP’s latest single, title track “Dans la bouche,” pairs Deligny’s sultry cooing with a sleek and percussive production featuring skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, a wobbling yet propulsive bass synth line and the duo’s unerring knack for an infectious hook. The end result — to my ears, at least — is a song that sort of sounds like sensual and slick synthesis of Munich Machine and Yelle.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s Mear Shares a Gorgeous and Expressive Visual for Cinematic “Second Sight”

Toronto-based synth pop duo Mear — Frances Miller and Greg Harrison — can trace their origins to when the pair met while working at renowned music venue Massey Hall. Shortly after meeting, Miller and Harrison began collaborating by sending tracks back and forth through social media.

Through the release of their debut EP, 2016’s Flood and a handful of singles, the Canadian synth pop duo have established a sound and approach that pairs catchy melodies and poignant lyrics with the duo’s shared love of experimental music. Their single “Perfect Mess” was released to praise by The East, edm joy and OMGblog and was named a “Song You Need to Hear This Week” by CBC Music.

Their full-length debut, Soft Chains is slated for an April 22, 2022 release. The album’s latest single “Second Sight” is a cinematic bit of pop centered around shimmering synth arpeggios and skittering reverb-drenched beats paired with Miller’s gorgeous and expressive vocals. While sonically recalling Flourish//Perish era BRAIDS, Kinlaw and ACES, the song as the duo explain “is about someone, who is grappling with a memory that holds them back. It’s about a confrontation and making it out on the other side.”

Edited by Mear’s Frances Miller, the accompanying video for “Second Sight” pairs the live action expressive dancing of choreographer and dancer Katherine Semchuk with the flowing animation of Kristen-Innes Stambolic. The visual manages to evoke a difficult and exhausting inward struggle that ends with the video’s protagonist coming out of the other side with an inner peace.