My fascination for synthwave makes little sense. Illogical, because of two things:
I don’t like “retro” stuff. Retro themed parties, retro fashion, nostalgia. I hate looking back. And above all, I can’t stand eighties hit music.
Secondly, I generally speaking prefer instrumental music.
But synthwave manage to somehow dodge all of that and I kinda dig it! In small doses, mind you, but still – it’s cool!
My main litmus test when it comes to selecting synthwave tracks is, “could it have been a hit in the eighties?”. It’s not enough to just sound like an 80s production, it needs to have hit potential. And here’s two that has that – and really good vocals!
Missing Words – Moment to Moment
If Morten Harket (a-ha), Howard Jones and Jim Kerr (Simple Minds) had a gangbang and the outcome were a baby boy, this is how he’d sound.
Just listen to this. The vocals are really, really authentic eighties pop boy wonder. With plenty of reverb, synth arpeggios, swelling pads, and that chorus? I’m back. Straight back into an older buddys Wolkswagen Beetle, strutting my bleached bangs and fingerless gloves.
Yeah baby.
Jack Simchak – Tonight
Oh hello there, Bryan Ferry. I just found a lost recording of yours.
I’m not even sure if this track strictly speaking really qualifies as synthwave, being as accoustic as it is. But I don’t care. This is a fantastic recreation of what pop music was all about back then. Sounds so legit I almost wonder if somebody is spoofing me. And totally hit matierial back then.
Two tracks that, once again, allows even an eighties allergic like me enjoy the decade of the shoulder pads.
These two tracks passed the VIP entrance into our eighties list on Spotify: “More Eighties than the 80s itself“. This is a list where we only collect the very finest synthwave tracks as we discover them. Only those with a hit potential are allowed access. You should follow it! Like, now!