Three truly authentic sounding tracks today – these three are all prime examples of why I include Synthwave on this blog at all, as a balance to the more “forward-leaning” genres I usually cover. It’s been a while since “Synthwave Saturday” held three tracks of this level. Enjoy!
MMRS – Hunting Lights
Quite likely my favourite amongst today’s three remarkably good tracks. The vocals here reminded me of one of my favourite vocalists of the 80s (or even regardless of decade): Morten Harket of A-Ha.
“All my life I’ve been fascinated by the warmth of the 80s sound”, says MMRS. And we clearly hear his love materialised in his own composition here, cause this is as 80s vibes as we can get. Warm, harmonic, melodic as only the 80s melodies were.
Matt Welch – Two Reasons
If the first reminded me of early A-Ha, the arrangement on one reminds me of Alphaville. The more simple effective synth pop arrangement. And with the ever-important catchy chorus solidly in place.
And a beatuful duet this one is. Something we don’t find too often on the synthwave scene.
We’ve covered Matt before here on this blog, and I am confident this won’t be the last. In fact he’s to be considered a regular on our playlist. He’s one of the major players on the authentic 80s synth pop scene, as far as I am concerned. Still largely undiscovered – a prime example of how utterly unfair the music industry is.
Keep up the good work, bro’! Your time will come!
Parlour Magic – Phantom West
“Phantom West” is the first single from Parlour Magic, a new vintage synthpop project from NYC-based producer, media artist, and composer Luc Bokor-Smith. Since graduating from Brown University with a BA in Music in 2018, Bokor-Smith has created several large-scale live multimedia installations, while also working as a producer and engineer in New York City.
And, I can’t be the only one getting associations to Pet Shop Boys here?
Three tracks that proudly sits on the top of our excellent, primarily vocal driven synthwave playlist, “More Eighties Than the 80s itself”.