Category: Synth Pop

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Axis Neptune Shares a Slinky Meditation on Life

Josh Cotterill is a Scarborough, UK-based multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, sound designer and producer, who can trace the origins of his music career to when a seven year-old Cotterill, obsessed with Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante, learned guitar.

After graduating from college with a degree in history and Chinese, Cotterill began focusing on producing his own music with several projects — in particular, his rising, soul, jazz, synth pop and indie rock-influenced solo recording project Axis Neptune, which he started in 2020.

Cotterill’s Axis Neptune full-length debut, last year’s Reasons featured “Cherry Red,” which was chosen as BBC Introducing‘s pick of The Week by BBC Radio York and North Yorkshire‘s Jericho Keys. The Scarborough, UK-based artist was invited to perform for a BBC Introducing live session that was filmed on the Chinese island of Hainan, because Cotterill was stuck in China as a result of the country’s strict COVID-19 restrictions. (This also marked the first ever BBC Introducing session ever filmed in China.)

Adding to a growing profile, the rising British artist and producer played live sessions for CGTN, China Radio International, Nugget Record’s Online Music Festival, and sets at Sofar Sounds and Beijing’s Dusk till Dawn Club.

Cotterill’s latest Axis Neptune single, “Solar” is a slinky, hook-driven bop centered around glistening synths, bubbling bursts of funk guitar, skittering beats and the rising British artist’s falsetto delivery that manages to bring Currents-era Tame Impala to mind. But under the sleek, Quiet Storm-meets -disco funk facade is a brooding meditation on life’s fleeting nature.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Carrellee Shares Dark and Sultry “Morning Sun”

Sarah Pray is Madison, WI-based singer/songwriter and musician, who can trace much of the origins of her music career to growing up in a musical household: Pray’s father taught her piano and by the time she turned five, she was learning jazz chords and music theory.

As a teenager, Pray interned at recording studios in Madison and Minneapolis — and then she started writing her own original music. Pray started her career as as solo artist, releasing her first few releases under her name. She then made a name for herself as one-half of folk duo Kivi & Pray with her ex-husband Thomas Kivi, an act that toured across much of Europe and the States.

During both the pandemic and divorce, Pray wanted to experiment — and return to her roots. “I am a big fan of female artists like Bjork, Angel Olsen, Fiona Apple, and PJ Harvey, who constantly evolve. I feel more in touch with myself more than ever since the divorce.” Pray’s latest project Carrellee sees the Wisconsin-born singer/songwriter and musician working with Brett Bullion to fine tune her songs, giving them a sleek, modern air.

Pray’s Carrellee debut, Scale of Dreams is slated for a November 18, 2022 release through Negative Gain Productions. Thematically, the album is heavily informed by Pray’s divorce with the album evoking the heartache, longing, frustration, regret and bitterness of a major relationship’s end. Sonically, the material draws from Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush and a wide variety of Italo disco and synthwave with each instrument being processed through crumped and fried analog tape.

Scale of Dreams‘ first single “Morning Sun” is a dark and seductive synthesis of Giorgio Moroder-like Italo disco, industrial electronic and pop featuring thumping and skittering beats, glistening synth arpeggios paired with razor sharp hooks and Pray’s sultry delivery expressing aching longing — and the song’s narrator’s realization that their relationship has irrevocably changed.

“Morning Sun” came to Pray during a dream she had as she was getting divorced. The next morning, she quickly transcribed it from her home studio, and shared the demo video on Facebook, where it has amassed over 370,000 views.

The accompanying video features Pray wearing different wigs in superimposed or directly in neon light and explosive bursts of light in a variety of sexually-charged scenarios.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Brothertiger Shares Breezy and Escapist “Be True”

Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, musician and producer John Jagos is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed chillwave/synth pop, JOVM mainstay act Brothertiger. And with Brothertiger, Jagos has released four full-length albums and a handful of EPs featuring brooding and introspective material, Tears for Fears cover album and Fundamentals, a four-volume series of livestreamed improvisations.

Jagos’ self-titled fifth album was co-produced with longtime collaborator Jon Markson. Slated for a November 4, 2022 release through Satanic Panic Recordings the self-titled album reportedly sees Jagos moving through his chillwave roots and into the refined glitz of sophistipop, a British micro genre made famous in the 80s and 90s by the likes of Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti and others. Jagos’ take on the style though is pure escapism — immaculate, lushly produced and engineered, retro-leaning songs meant for romantic vagabonds and urbane daydreamers alike.

Typically, the self-titled album is reserved for an artist’s debut effort. But for Jaogs, the album serves as an introduction to a playful and escapist new era for him that can trace its origins back to the early days of the pandemic: Like a lot of artistic city-dwellers, the Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstay was restless. That changed after he scoured eBay for vintage gear, impulsively snagging some some sophisitpop-era synths and samplers manufactured by Ensoniq, a now-defunct company.

Armed with this new gear and a completely new sonic palette, Jagos wrote, recorded and released “Dancer on the Water,” a lush and cinematic track centered around glistening synths and bursts of pan flute. Initially released as a standalone single last spring, both longtime fans and new fans were smitten by the song’s unselfconscious optimism and its throwback, feel-good energy. “I was like, I want to make music like this for a while and see what happens,” Jagos explains. 

What happened next was that new songs spilled out of the JOVM mainstay with an unexpected ease. “I felt more connected to my songwriting than I’ve ever felt before,” Jagos recalls. That self-synchronicity was infectious, leading to productive sessions with some unexpected collaborators including Covet‘s Yvette Young and Underoath‘s Spencer Chamberlain.

But Jagos was also conscious about leaving space for kitsch and absurdity, often embracing the inherent cheesiness of the album’s slick influence. “Trying to be less serious about the music business is a big theme,” Jagos explains. “I’m not trying to conform to the specific ideals the algorithm machine wants me to be a part of; I’m just trying to make music that sounds good.

The self-titled album’s latest single “Be True” is slick, hook-driven bop built around glistening synth arpeggios, pan flute and a sinuous bass line that manages to subtly recall 90s R&B and Avalon-era Roxy Music — but with a longing, escapist vibe.

“I had this syllabic rhythm in my head for months and I felt like I needed to make a song around it,” the Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstay says of the song’s origins. “It had this specific ‘90s RnB’ vibe to it which I loved. That evolved into the mantra of the song, and from there, I just built around it. Then Jon came in and we added specks of detail all over. I love how heavy it became.”

The accompanying video features cinematic footage shot in some of the world’s most gorgeous and breathtaking places — and it happens to link up nicely with the song’s lyrics.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formerly known as Super Inuit, Edinburgh-based pop duo Slim Wrist — Fern Morris and Brian Pokora — pair assertive beats, organic tones and pop sensibilities with an understated poignancy in a way that has drawn comparisons to Cocteau Twins, Portishead, Broadcast, and Sylvan Esso.

The duo formed back in 2016 and since their formation, they have evolved from having separate and distinct musical roles to a much more collaborative and cohesive unit that shares ideas and then develops them further together.

The Scottish duo’s full-length debut Closer for Comforting officially drops today and the album, which was written over the past two years, sees the band stripping their songwriting to the bone and leaving the listener with exactly what they need. “We’ve developed quite a direct approach to writing and with Closer for Comforting we’ve really tried to hone that, stripping back on the sprawl of some of our earlier music,” Slim Wrist’s Brian Pokora explains. “All the songs have a purpose and the album feels quite concise, whilst still having room to breathe.”  Fern Morris adds “It’s a bit of a calm after the storm reflection, both musically and lyrically. If you’re in the middle of a situation you’re not always able to lift your head and see things in perspective.  We wanted to have a sense of that and have that sense of space whilst maintaining that direct, poppy feel.”

“Milk Teeth,” Closer for Comforting‘s latest single pairs glistening synths, skittering industrial thump and link with Fern Morris’ ethereal cooing and the duo’s ability to craft an earworm of a hook. The end result is a song that sounds like a slickly produced and stunning synthesis of Portishead and Soft Metals.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Vacant Lots Share a Motorik Groove-Driven Bop

With the release of 2020’s Interzone through London-based psych label Fuzz Club, the Brooklyn-based psych duo The Vacant Lots — Jared Artaud (vocals, guitar, synths) and Brian McFayden (drums, synths, vocals) — crafted an album’s worth of material that saw the duo blending dance music and psych rock while maintaining the minimalist approach that has won the band acclaim across the international psych scene. 

The duo’s highly-anticipated fourth album Closure is slated for a September 30, 2022 release through Fuzz Club. Written during pandemic-related lockdowns, the eight-song Closure clocks in at 23 minutes and continues the Brooklyn-based duo’s established “minimal is maximal” ethos — all while being a soundtrack for a shattered, fucked up world. 

“During the pandemic the two of us were totally isolated in our home studios,” The Vacant Lots’ Jared Artaud says. “I don’t think the pandemic directly influenced the songs in an obvious way, but merely amplified existing feelings of alienation and isolation. We found ourselves writing in a more direct and vulnerable way than ever before.”

Last month, I wrote about Closure‘s first single “Chase.” Written on a Synsonics drum machine and a Yamaha CS-10 synthesizer, “Chase” is firmly rooted in their long-held “minimal is maximal” ethos but while seeing the Brooklyn-based duo pushing their sound in a club friendly direction while still being lysergic. Arguably one of their most dance floor friendly songs, “Chase” is centered around what may be the most vulnerable and direct lyrics of their growing catalog with the song subtly suggesting that at some point we will all need to dance away our heartache — if only for a three or four minutes.

“‘Chase’ is a song about longing, about the struggle of love across time zones,” The Vacant Lots’ Brian MacFayden explains in press notes. “It’s about the desire to close that gap of separation, but also the anticipation and excitement that builds between each encounter. It’s about a sense of knowing how it should be before it is.” The band’s Jared Artaud adds, “‘Chase’ has this duality that strikes a balance between wanting to dance and taking a pill that plunges you on the couch.”

Closure‘s second and latest single “Thank You” is a dance floor friendly banger centered around a relentless and angular, arpeggiated baseline paired with a four-on-the-floor drum machine pattern, glistening synths, angular guitar buzz and sneering vocals. But while being a New Order-like banger, “Thank You” is a bitter tell-off to a people (and situations) that have wasted valuable time.

“‘Thank You’ was built in the framework of simplicity,” The Vacant Lots Brian MacFayden says. “It has a relentless pace driven by an angular arpeggiated bassline and drum machine pattern. A Juno-6 was used for chords throughout, a Korg M500 for the leads, and the track is brought to another level with guitars layered on top. The process of crafting this song was done entirely remotely due to the pandemic and the layers over time became more and more refined until we were satisfied with each sound source.”

Directed by Alexander Schipper, the accompanying video brings Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground to mind as it features two impossibly cool people in sunglasses smoking and swaying to music, shot in grainy black and white.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Allegories Shares a Woozy New Single

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. 

The duo 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 earlier this year, I wrote 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. 

After the album’s official release, I wrote about “Funny Way,” 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, “Funny Way,” 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.” 

Endless‘ fifth and latest single “Tell Me Before I Forget” is centered around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats, whispered and cooed falsetto vocals and insistent thump paired with the duo’s uncanny knack for infectious hooks. Much like its immediate predecessors, “Tell Me Before I Forget” is a woozy and mind-bending mix of earnestness, sneering irony and menace.

The accompanying video by Andrew O’Connor is a fittingly kaleidoscopic, satellite view of ocean waves crashing against a rock — with the visual pulsing in time to the music.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s Rapport Shares a Cinematic Visual For Shimmering 80s-Inspired “Can’t Get It To Last”

After a decade of playing in a number of local bands, performing with other artists and stints with Moon King and Born Ruffians, Toronto-born and-based singer/songwriter and musician Maddy Wilde’s long-felt imposter syndrome gave way to a desire to create music that she felt was largely unexplored in the Toronto scene — earnest, heart-worn-on-sleeve pop with her latest band Rapport. Around the same time, her bandmates Kurt Marble and Mike Pereira, who have played in Twist, Ducks, Ltd. and Most People had experienced a similar urge to create earnest pop, despite their professional backgrounds in garage rock, punk rock and glam rock.

With their recently released debut EP Floating Through The Wonderwave, the Toronto-based trio have embarked on an exploration of crafted and breezy pop rooted in Wilde’s intuitive sense of harmony and slick hooks paired with a desire to sincerely capture the essence of sentimentality. But just under the surface, the EP’s material possesses a dark, melancholy quality.

Thematically, the EP touches upon jealous, neuroses and self-doubt while Wilde’s narrators also explore the delicate and uneasy balance between artistic creation and self-promotion. “I had to uninstall social media apps on my phone when I realized they were a major source of anxiety and a hugely addictive waste of time which I could have spent making music,” Wilde says. “My creative practice was suffering as a result. But without these tools, how are artists meant to share their work?”

The recently released EP’s third and latest single “Can’t Get It To Last” is a shimmering bit of 80s inspired pop featuring atmospheric synths, Pereira’s percussive and chugging bass lines, Marble’s 80s rock-like guitar lines and soloing and Wilde’s achingly delicate vocal delivery paired with a soaring hook. While sounding as though it were a seamless mesh of the Stranger Things soundtrack and Brothers in Arms-era Dire Straits, the song on one level could be read as a prototypical broken heart-fueled ballad. But as the band’s Maddie Wilde explains, “On the surface, this probably sounds like your average love song. But it’s really about friendships and growing apart. Close friendships take different shapes- for example, friends who do everything together but have never actually been vulnerable with one another. It’s like maintaining a light and fluffy connection that has never really progressed further than a casual relationship. Friendships like this can go on for ages, and they are valuable, but they don’t seem to last as long.”

“Adrienne McLaren brought to life my vision of creating a music video mood similar to that scene in Grease where Danny walks around the drive-in singing about Sandy,” Wilde adds. “For the drive-in movie, we made an experimental film not unlike one that would be submitted as an art class assignment. To get even more meta, we displayed the drive-in music video itself playing on a small Panasonic TV in various locations around the city. A video within a video within a video.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DELNUR Shares Sultry “Intimacy”

Vic Delnur is a Rio de Janeiro-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who can trace much of the origins of his career to growing up in a deeply musical home: Delnur grew up surrounding by synths, pianos and other instruments — thanks to the fact that his father is a maestro and producer, and his mother is a vocalist and art therapist.

With his mononymic electronic music project DELNUR, the Rio de Janeiro-born, New York-based artist’s work is informed by his Brazilian roots. as well as the time he has spent living and playing in London and New York. Lyrically, his work is informed by lived-in, personal experiences — and as a result, thematically the material touches upon anxiety, faith, relationships and life as an immigrant. Sonically, his work draws from early 80s disco, funk, neo-soul, psych pop and Brazilian music.

Earlier this year, the Rio de Janeiro-born, New York-based singer/songwriter and producer, released his debut single as DELNUR, “Mind-Brain-Body,” which quickly received attention nationally and internationally: Since its release, the track has amassed over 50,000 streams on Spotify. And with the attention surrounding both the artist and his debut single, Delnur was invited to play a set at this year’s Okeechobee Music Festival, where he shared a stage with Tame Impala, Jungle, Megan Thee Stallion and a list of other world-renowned acts.

DELNUR’s latest single “Intimacy” is a slow-burning, sultry bop centered around glistening and wobbling synths, skittering beats, the Rio de Janeiro-born, New York-based artist’s plaintive and vulnerable delivery paired with an infectious, razor sharp hook. Sonically, the track sees Delnur effortlessly mesh elements of electro pop, alternative pop, Quiet Storm soul to create something warmly familiar yet completely new.

The accompanying video by Monochroma Films is sumptuous fever dream — and a photographer’s dream: We see a woman dancing in a field at night, lit by headlights; photo shoots in monochromatic color schemes and in lush colors. And throughout, there’s a sense of longing and unrequited desire for the gorgeous woman at the center of it all.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: French Psych Pop Outfit Polycool Shares a Sultry New Bop

With the release of their full-length debut, 2091’s Lemon Lord, the up-and-coming French psych pop outfit Polycool quickly established a unique sound that drew from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Air, Sebastian Tellier, Nick Hakim, Connan Moccasin and others. The band has received airplay on Radio Nova, FIP, France Inter, Les Inrocks and others.

Building upon a growing profile in their native France, the rising psych pop outfit has played at 2019’s Printemps de Bourges and 2020’s We Love Green.

The French psych pop outfit’s latest single, “Something Between Us” is a breezy and infectious bop centered around a strutting bass line, glistening synth arpeggios, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar paired with a dance floor friendly hook and and a seductive falsetto delivery. The end result is a song that to my ears is a bit like the Bee Gees-meets-Tame Impala — or in other words a sinuous and sultry dance floor friendly come on to trip with that pretty young thing.

Fittingly, the accompanying video is a lysergic fever dream in which the members of the French outfit jam out in what looks like an enormous lava lamp.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tacono Gate is a Brooklyn-based solo artist, who has been making and releasing music drawing from 70s krautrock, New Wave and contemporary lo-fi rock in obscurity from his bedroom since 2019.

His latest single “Goner” is a swooning, motorik groove driven, 80s New Wave-inspired bop centered around glistening synth arpeggios, industrial thump and an icy vocal delivery paired with an enormous hook. While sounding indebted to A Flock of Seagulls, Depeche Mode, John Carpenter soundtracks and others, the song is rooted in bittersweet regret over a relationship the song’s narrator took for granted — and now recognizes is either on the ropes or over because of it. Throughout there’s a mix of tacit awareness and denial over the situation that feels familiar to anyone who’s been a direct cause of a breakup.

“This is a song I worked on for 24 hours, high as shit, and then left sitting in my folder for months during a deep depression,” Tacono Gate says. “The original lyrics were something like ‘I don’t have words to this song / I haven’t written words / I haven’t written anything.’ I came back to it recently and realized I really like it — normally I hate the stuff I put out by the time it’s released and can’t listen to it.”

“There’s an obvious darkwave influence, but I was also inspired by the big synth sounds and some of the wilder emancipatory energy of Queen a la Radio Ga Ga ‘I Want to Break Free,’ etc. and an Argentinian new-wave band called Virus. There’s some post-punk energy, maybe channeling a little Julian Casablancas on the vocals too, and I used the Magnetic Fields‘ ‘Strange Powers’ as a reference track for some of the overall tonality of the track. It’s definitely heavy on the ‘80s, but I think I made something new. tonality of the track. It’s definitely heavy on the ‘80s, but I think I made something new. I never want it to be derivative even when I’m wearing my influences on my sleeve.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s Dilettante Shares Bitter and Heartbroken Pop Anthem

Toronto-based indie outfit  Dilettante can trace their origins back to 2016: During the spring, mutual dog lovers Natalie Panacci and Julia Wittman started a band so their dogs could hang out more. Along with The Black Cats’ Zachary Stuckey; Said the Whale’s, Iskwe’s, The Recklaws’ and Scott Helman’s Bradley Connor; and Candice Ng, they started For Jane, a self-described dog rock pop band with a Kate Bush meets Sinead O’Connor sensibility that prominently featured Panacci’s and Wittman’s contrasting vocals and mesmerizing harmonies.

For Jane released their debut EP, 2018’s Married with Dogs, which featured “Car,” a track featured on CBC Music and The Edge. But by early 2021, For Jane announced a name change, largely influenced by a massive lineup change that left Panacci and Williams as its creative core, and a decided shift in sonic direction.

The duo’s Maks Milczarcyk produced-self-titled, full-length debut was released earlier this year, and the album featured “Bonnie,” an 80s New Wave inspired, synth-driven confection that to my ears sounded like a sultry take on  Til Tuesday‘s “Voices Carry” as it featured glistening synth arpeggios, wiry post-punk-like guitars fed through a bit of reverb and an angular bass line paired with the duo’s plaintive and mesmerizing vocals.

The self-titled albums latest single, the Maks Milczarcyk written “Monster” is a gauzy synth bop centered around glistening synth arpeggios, relentless four-on-the-floor, burst of angular guitars, and an achingly bitter and heartache-fueled vocal delivery paired with a rousingly anthemic hook and chorus — before ending with a strummed acoustic guitar-driven coda.

While sonically bringing A Flock of Seagulls and others to mind, at its core, the song’s narrator delivers a bitter and heartbroken tell-off to an ex, she would like to forget. Rooted in a deeply personal experience, the song is simultaneously profoundly universal — to the point that I know many of us have been in the same situation and would be singing along with bitter tears streaking down our faces.

Shot by Video Business, the accompanying video follows one-half of the Canadian duo as she runs down a suburban street while singing the song past empty parking lots and a mall, where she eventually meets up with her bandmate — and they walk off together, perhaps suggesting that healing is in your friends, loved ones and in music.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Emerging French Act Curseurs Share a Sun-Dappled Visual for Slow-Burning “Bolide”

Emerging French trio Cursuers formed earlier this year. Influenced by Vansire, Men I Trust and L’Imperatice, the members of the emerging French trio specialize in an ethereal and romantic, synth pop that thematically touches upon the nostalgia of adolescence and the crossroads of adulthood with a swooning Romanticism.

Their debut single, the ethereal and slow-burning “Bolide” sees the trio pairing glistening synth arpeggios, a sinuous bass line, skittering boom bap-like drumming with plaintive vocals and a soaring hook. While sonically recalling JOVM mainstays ACES, Washed Out, Brothertiger and Summer Heart, “Bolide” is a summery bop full of aching nostalgia for a time — or for things — that you can’t possibly get back.

Directed by Rayane Mghezzi, the accompanying video was shot in and around the gorgeous French coast and follows the band hanging out and goofing off on a sun-dappled afternoon.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Besnard Lakes’ Sheenah Ko Shares a Dance Floor Friendly Anthem

Montreal-based singer/songwriter and synth pop artist Sheenah Ko may be best known for being a core member of acclaimed Montreal-based shoegazer outfit Besnard Lakes. Interestingly, as a solo artist Ko has gained a reputation for being a fearless musical warrior, who marches to the beat of her own drum.

Ko’s recently released nine-song, sophomore album Future Is Now was written to encourage listeners to broaden their horizons, break the cycle, effect change and to live life to the fullest. Future Is Now‘s latest single “Wake Up” is a glittery dance floor banger seemingly drawing from Ray of Light-era Madonna and 90s house music: Thumping beats are paired with Giorgio Moroder-like oscillating synths, wobbling bass synths, Ko’s sultry pop star delivery, relentless four-on-the-floor and infectious hook.

But while being a dance floor friendly banger, the song is rooted in a much-needed, positive message: the time to change the world is now! There’s no time to waste!

Produced by Ken Atwind and Martine Groulx, the accompanying video for “Wake Up” follows a collection of corporate worker bee types, who are bored and dissatisfied automatons at their boring jobs. They slowly begin to wake up and connect back to their more youthful, fun loving selves in an epic dance party in the snow and in a club. But more important, by connecting with their youthful selves, they have hopes and dreams of a better world.

Indie Electro Pop by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Nation of Language Covers The Replacements

Rising Brooklyn-based synth pop trio and JOVM mainstays Nation of Language — Ian Richard Devaney (vocals, guitars, percussion), Aidan Noell (synth, vocals) and Michael Sue-Poi (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2016: Devaney and Sue-Poi were members of The Static Joys, a band that became largely inactive after the release of their sophomore album. As the story goes, Devaney was inspired to start a new project after hearing hearing OMD‘s “Electricity,” a song he had listened to quite a bit as a child in his father’s car.

What initially started out as Devaney fooling around on a keyboard eventually evolved to Nation of Language with the addition of Noell and Sue-Poi. Between 2016-2019, the Brooklyn-based synth pop trio released a handful of singles that helped to build up a fanbase locally and the elsewhere.

The JOVM mainstay’s full-length debut, 2020’s Introduction, Presence was released to critical praise, landing on the Best Albums lists that year for Rough Trade, KEXP, Paste, Stereogum, Under The Radar and PopMatters. The Brooklyn-based pop trio capped off the year with the “A Different Kind of Light”/”Deliver Me From Wondering Why” 7 inch, which featured the A Flock of Seagulls meets Simple Minds-like “Deliver Me From Wondering Why.”  

Late last year, the Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays released their critically applauded sophomore album A Way Forward, which featured lead album single “Across That Fine Line,” which contained a run of decidedly 80s synth pop-inspired material. As a child of the 80s, “Across That Fine Line” brings back memories of listening to A Flock of Seagulls, Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones and a lengthy list of others. And much like the sources that seemingly inspired it, the song is rooted in earnest, lived-in songwriting.

“‘Across That Fine Line’ is a reflection on that moment when a non-romantic relationship flips into something different,” Nation of Language’s Devaney explains in press notes. “When the air in the room suddenly feels like it changes in an undefinable way. It’s a kind of celebration of that certain joyous panic, and the uncertainty that surfaces right after it.  
 
“Sonically, it’s meant to feel like running down a hill, just out of control. I had been listening to a lot of Thee Oh Sees at the time of writing it and admiring the way they supercharge krautrock rhythms and imbue them with a kind of mania, which felt like an appropriate vibe to work with and make our own.”

Earlier this year, the rising Brooklyn-based synth pop outfit made their late night, national TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where they performed “Across That Fine Line” is a segment filmed at Baby’s All Right. Adding to a rapidly growing profile, the Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays completed a lengthy, headlining, international tour that included a March 2, 2022 stop at Webster Hall with Dark Tea.

Fittingly released for Pride Month, Nation of Language covered The Replacements‘ 1984 classic “Androgynous.” Written by Paul Westerberg as a twinkling piano-driven ballad celebrating gender non-conformity and gender non-conformity based relationships centered around Westerberg’s emotional delivery, Nation of Language’s take is contemplative yet playful while featuring atmospheric synths, skittering beats and Devaney’s plaintive vocals.

“One of the things that made covering ‘Androgynous’ so exciting is that, for me, so much of the original song is carried by Paul Westerberg’s incredible melodies and emotional delivery, and that really leaves a lot of opportunity to imagine new instrumentation,” Nation of Language’s Ian Devaney says in press notes. “I felt like as long as I was able to channel enough of that emotional power but bring the vocals into my own space, it would be a challenging and worthwhile endeavor.” 

The “Androgynous” cover will appear on a limited edition 7″ vinyl that will also feature a surprise single on the B-side. The 7″ will be released in August through the band’s direct-to-customer store and will be available for pre-order upon its digital release.