Browsing Tag

ELO

Spirits of Saturn – Transfigured: A Synth-Pop Remedy for Souls Unbounded by Earth’s Orbit

Posted on 1 March 2024

Spirits of Saturn, a band that emerged like a comet in the musical cosmos, has graced our auditory senses with their latest single, Transfigured. The synth-pop odyssey that transcends the mundane unravels as a vibrant fusion of synth and strings, weaving a star-roving tapestry of influence from Kraftwerk, Todd Rundgren, and Daft Punk to submerge synth-pop fans in a constellation of future-perfect disco-pop sonics and vocals that can croon your soul out of kilter.

The beat-bolstered synth-pop ballad explores the mental labyrinth navigated during post-relationship dissolution; It’s a narrative of emotional metamorphosis, where even the most visceral feelings disintegrate through transmutation. The song’s structure, with its stabbing synth lines and euphoric beats, creates an atmosphere that will bring you down to earth and beyond its atmospheric remit. As Transfigured plays, you can’t help but feel unshackled from earthly constraints while simultaneously being in tune with the ache only humankind will know through our romantically masochistic tendencies.

If any outfit has what it takes to dominate the synth-pop scene in 2024, we’d put our money on Spirits of Saturn. They’ve already graced some of the most renowned venues in the UK with their decadently transcendent tones and proven their neon songwriting stripes.

Transfigured will land in Earth’s orbit on March 1st; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rosso Rosso echoed the paradox of euphoria and ennui through their tender Tour De Force, Niamh

Posted on 4 February 2024

The Brooklyn-based fourpiece, Rosso Rosso’s discography could only be described as mercurially eclectic. When they’re not extending the legacy of NY punk, they’re enchanting the airwaves with their sticky-sweet evocations of melodic classic rock and conjuring aurally affecting alchemy in the same vein of the Kinks, Big Star, and ELO.

With their latest release, Niamh, the band that has been honing its sound as a collective since 2022, debuted a release that will tie your heartstrings in knots while allowing your soul to transcend with the endlessly ascending melodies that will be a hit with fans of the Beatles, Grandaddy and Elliott Smith alike.

With multi-layered vocal harmonies which give the Beach Boys a run for their money and lyricism that proves how deeply Rosso Rosso delves into the phenomena they explore, Niamh is a tender Tour De Force that will pull you back and forth between the brink of tears and the cusp of euphoria.

With the promise of more releases to follow in 2024, Rosso Rosso is more than worth a spot on your radar. Even if they can manipulate your emotions as efficaciously as a Patrick Bateman-esque narcissist.

Niamh is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Evolution 9 went interstellar with their nebulous synth-pop harmonies in Tell Me Something

Posted on 24 January 2024

If Grandaddy’s polyphonic melodies never fail to stir your soul, consider the latest single, Tell Me Something, from Evolution 9 as an unmissable sonic event. The unbridled synthesis of sound and emotion resonates with exhilaratingly rare depth. The rock-amplified synth-pop hit, which shares the same rhythmically cosmic air as Inspiral Carpets will envelop you in a kaleidoscope of colour as it vibrantly through its meticulously carved progressions.

The Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies are a standout feature, adding layers of warmth and nostalgia to the track. These harmonies intertwine seamlessly with the synth melodies, creating a sound that is both familiar and fresh. The effect is akin to rediscovering a beloved classic while experiencing something entirely new.

Evolution 9’s ability to balance complexity with accessibility will undoubtedly see them go far in the current climate that necessitates singles that exude as much zeal as this dynamic, almost serendipitous gem.

Stream Tell Me Something on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Reality is fiction in Rooftop Screamers cosmic pop odyssey, Another Life, featuring Tim Smith

Posted on 27 September 2023

After celebrating critical acclaim in his power-pop band, Throwback Suburbia, the Portland-based drummer and songwriter Mike Collins created his studio project, Rooftop Screamers to showcase his original tracks and create an opportunity to work with local and world-renowned vocalists, musicians, and producers.

Swapping guitar solos for the far more euphonic timbres of synth lines, he orchestrated an interstellar sonic fantasy in his latest single, Another Life, featuring Tim Smith, but those power pop proclivities still worked their way into the sticky-sweet synthesis that will enamour any fans of Butch Walker and Father John Misty.

It is all too easy to affix an ELO reference onto any track that could be branded as a cosmic pop odyssey, but the fusion of Beatle-esque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography necessitated the reminiscence reference regardless.

Something tells me that Another Life will be an earworm that doesn’t quit until you have pandered to it repeatedly.

Stream Another Life on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LA’s most harmonic pop-rock pioneer, Johnathan Dax, evoked mindfulness in his latest single, These Are the Days

Posted on 17 August 2023

Johnathan Dax spun the ’60s psych-pop tones through a spacy, future-ready kaleidoscope to orchestrate his odyssey of a single, These Are the Days.

The single efficaciously finds a poignantly compelling way to prove that these times may not be perfect, but on this point on the space-time continuum, they’re all we have, and they were made for living in.

Our era may be choked with a wanton lust for nostalgia, but if any spacey pop-rock sonic universe can bring you back to the present and give you lust for contemporary life, it’s These Are the Days, which picks up momentum through rock licks toward the outro, while emanating the liberating transcendence of an ELO epic.

These Are the Days will be available to stream from the 17th of August; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Go on a baroque space odyssey with Chris Sunfield’s Circus of Love

Posted on 15 May 2023

Circus of Love is enough of an oddity odyssey it could make David Lynch jealous. Yet, Chris Sunfield pulled it all together with the sweetly impassioned style and soul of Wayne Coyne and the spacey touches of ELO and Bowie, leaving just enough room for his own masterful maker’s mark.

Affectionate and Avant-Garde in the same histrionic breath, Circus of Love will easily become another hit for the singer-songwriter who always allows his sonic signature to evolve with every new release. The only consistencies are the superlative talents through which the sentiments are splayed out across the addictive melodies and the rapturous reception every new single garners.

Circus of Love hit the airwaves on May 5; catch it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Smooth Retsina Glow orchestrated a psych-pop sonic sugar rush with their latest single, Overcoming

Posted on 12 March 2023

After Smooth Retsina Glow got ‘Metaphysical’ with their third album in 2022, they’ve rivalled the psychedelic soul of the Flaming Lips in their latest single, Overcoming.

Sarah Stoll’s vocals effortlessly fuse into the technicolour tones of the psych-pop synths and the guitars that bring a pinch of angular new-wave indie melodicism to the release. If that wasn’t enough sticky-sweet nectar to melt into, the Beach Boys-ESQUE vocal harmonies are sure to strip the malady out of the weariest souls.

The Lehigh Valley award-winning act has been picking up the accolades left, right, and centre in recent years. Undoubtedly, Overcoming will earn the outfit that started in 2019 a few more. The boundless creativity paired with the optimistically bright lyricism, which proves that everyone can take control of their perception, created a serotonin-soaked playlist staple for anyone who wants to hang on to their sanity and optimise their mortal coils.

Stream Overcoming on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Tim Jackson reached the pinnacle of tender tenacity in his alt-indie single, An Unusual Time

Posted on 26 April 2022

With his standout single, An Unusual Time, taken from his sophomore album, Litter in the Park, the London-based singer-songwriter Tim Jackson, proved that the most consoling tracks don’t evade the grittiest facets of our existence, they encompass them and deliver us from them with pure transcendent panache.

An Unusual Time is so soothing it’s practically medicinal for the way Jackson contends with the unrelenting uncertainty in all of our lives with infectious ease. Sure, there’s been no short supply on exports of lockdown-inspired singles, but Jackson’s Elliott Smith-Esque vocals and tender tenacity are something to behold time and time again. There is as much nuance in the endlessly unravelling lyricism as in the mellifluous complex time signatures that bring an organic dynamic to the indie alt-rock meets jazz sanctum of a soundscape.

Here’s what Tim Jackson had to say about An Unusual Time

“This song is something we can all relate to after several years of once in a lifetime events; it speaks to the sense of bewilderment I was feeling when I wrote it. The title is both lyrically straightforward and cheeky, given the odd 5/8-time signature.”

Litter in the Park is now available to stream in full via Spotify.

Keep up to date with the latest releases from Tim Jackson via Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

The Fountains of Paradise has made an interstellar indie space pop debut with Forgotten Man.

Posted on 28 October 2021

With their if-they-got-enough-exposure-they-would-probably-start-a-cult-and-it-would-be-the-best-thing-ever vibe, it is safe to say that we instantly warmed to The Fountains of Paradise through their single, Forgotten Man, which features on their debut album, Let the People.

The Yorkshire-born, Buckinghamshire-based singer-songwriter’s spacey indie bedroom pop track starts with uplifting ABBA-Esque chords before the sonic palette transitions into an avant-garde arrangement of orchestral strings pulling against the electro-pop instrumentals. Plenty of the accordance in the single comes from the singer-songwriter’s elegantly gentle vocals that tenderly relay the playfully melancholic lyrics.

Forgotten Man does little in the way of subverting reality; it becomes escapism music all the same for the way it leaves you caught up in the witty attack on nihilism and mortality redundancy. For four minutes, blackened souls will feel right at home.

You can add Forgotten Man to your playlists on Spotify, or you can check out the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast