A Night Walk in The Underground Forest: New Synth Pop, Alt Pop + Electronic Music We Loved
Welcome to A Night Walk in The Underground Forest - a curated series where I hand-select my favourite new releases.
Featuring Always You, frutiger dillon, Kaoíva, Daniel Pickard, Ayla Loon, Bluhm, SOFY, Denyah, Decoy Octopus and DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ.
This edition features: a song that sounds like the kind of song that would echo through the halls of a vast domed building within a dream; a song that sounds like a dream from the 1990s; a shimmering electronic pop song reminiscent of Lady Gaga; a song that has a 1970s chicness to it; a song that sounds lke it was plucked directly from the soundtrack of a 1980s movie, one that takes place at midnight in a variety of cheap motels; a song with a visualizer that will remind you of Pure Shores; a song that feels like something you heard in childhood but can’t quite place; and more!
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A Night Walk in The Underground Forest 🌙 Synth Pop • Electronic Pop • Alt Pop & Electronic
Always You - Against The World
Weird pop is back, and I am so happy. The beautiful and rather strange intro to this captivated me immediately and made the song stand out a mile from the word go.
I mention this, as I am growing very weary of the advice being dolled out to artists by music industry types around song intros, which usually revolves around having an extremely familiar, short and palatable intro because the audience has no attention span (untrue), which, in my opinion, really underestimates what an audience is capable of, and shows the same lack of imagination as the movie executives who decided that the world wasn’t ready for ‘Coyote vs. Acme’.
I bring this up because this song lit something up in me. The soundscape features a velveteen, reverbed soundscape (think maybe George Clanton but with a sprinkle of sugar from the 1960s, the 1970s, and a bit of the 1980s), resulting in something that sounds like the kind of song that would echo through the vast domed halls of a building within a dream. Entrancing.
This is taken from the Los Angeles duo’s upcoming album ‘Against The World’ (which you can pre-order here).
Connect with Always You
Instagram | Facebook | X
frutiger dillon - msn (back 2 earth)
The music video for this has been coming up in my recommendations over the last two weeks (I love losing myself in the azure blue skies of Frutiger Aero, so it makes sense).
I was blown away by how good this was - I think this might end up being one of my favourite songs of the year. ‘msn (back 2 earth)’ sounds like a dream from the 1990s, wrapped up with the plushness of shoegaze and dreampop (it also kind of reminded me of the band After). Every so often I will come across an artist who reminds me of the endless creative horizons available in music, reigniting my love of technology and leaving me feeling thoroughly optimistic - and isn’t that the true spirit of Frutiger Aero?
Connect with Frutiger Dillon
Bandcamp | Instagram | X
Kaoíva - Sweet Escape
This is a new song from rising Cork pop sensation Kaoíva, featuring the production talents of Aran Sheehy. The song opens with an erhu (a Chinese two-stringed instrument) and glides into a beat that initially reminded me of The Pussycat Dolls, but as the song progressed was more reminiscent of Lady Gaga, especially the vocal style and the mid-00s recession pop plastic synths that enter in the chorus, which I just loved (I need more people to be doing this).
On the song, the artist shares, “In a world designed to cage you in, switch off from reality, embrace the moment and disappear into an exotic dream world — even if only for a few minutes. The track opens with the erhu, a two-stringed instrument also known as the Chinese violin and tells the story of a lost soul yearning to escape daily life while searching for a person and place to call home.”
Connect with Kaoíva
Instagram | Facebook
Daniel Pickard - Heartbeats the Flaw
Photo credit: Axel Gillot
This is the first single from the British indie-pop artist’s debut album ‘Behaviour’, which is set for release via AWAL on October 23rd.
The first thing I thought of when I listened to this was that it kind of had a 1970s chicness to it, like it was from a French art-house movie from that era. It is also delightfully smooth (kind of reminding me of Donny Benét) and exudes a glamor I can’t fully explain.
The houseplant-centric music video (directed by Axel Gillot) is gorgeous and rather hypnotic, on which the artist shares, “I play quite a disreputable character, naively meandering at caring for a loved one. The plant is actually fuming with its companion by exhales of disgust in the form of dust."
On the song, the artist says, “‘Heartbeats the Flaw' is a song about loyalty and the lack of assurance of it. It’s the romantic swooping of highs and lows, set in a seductively frantic room, a disco of playful gestures and anxiety. Inspired by French Touch with its sensibility and funky groove, it’s a nonchalantly sensual mood that is painted with emotional discourse and conflict."
I am thoroughly intrigued.
Connect with Daniel Pickard
Website | Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
Ayla Loon - cloudjuno
This sounds like lying on your bedroom floor at night-time, bathed in the orange glow of lamplight and fairy lights as you look out at the cityscape. You watch the warm glow of the lights in the other windows, illuminating bookcases, houseplants, and more, showing a snippet of the rich, full lives that exist all around you.
This shimmering cloud-like soundscape and gentle vocals evoke the sense of peace you feel at nighttime. I am guessing from the title that this was made on one of the Roland Juno series, which makes me love it all the more, as I have a second-hand Roland Juno DI that I use on literally everything.
Connect with Ayla Loon
Instagram
Bluhm - Even Lover
This is a new song from the Detroit duo Bluhm. ‘Even Lover’ features an epic and haunting intro, dissolving into a darkly seductive song that feels like it was plucked directly from the soundtrack of a 1980s movie; one that takes place at midnight in a variety of cheap motels. It feels rich with memory, the vocals making it all the more beguiling.
Connect with Bluhm
Instagram
SOFY - 50/50
Some of the best songs sound familiar in a way that evades description; this new song from SOFY being one of them. ‘50/50’ feels like something you heard in childhood but can’t quite place. The production on this is fantastic; I loved the sampling in the chorus and the delivery of the vocals, which are delivered in an almost off-the-cuff fashion, and, as someone who has to record vocals fairly regularly, this technique is actually extremely hard to do, and SOFY just nails it.
50/50 is taken from the artist’s debut album 'How To Perform Magic’ which will be out on the 25th of September.
Connect with SOFY
Instagram
Denyah - deep down
I saw the ‘Pure Shores’ style aquatic visuals and was immediately in.
Glittery, gentle harp sounds float to your ears, almost like mermaids are playing them at the bottom of the ocean, coaxing you into their azure blue paradise. The beat is sublime, featuring gentle, almost feather-like vocals with a dreamy chorus. There is something about this song that reminded me that releasing music on the internet can actually be fun.
Connect with Denyah
Instagram
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - Junior Beat
I have been battling with DIYing miniature sets for a series of music videos over the last year, and I am still nowhere near finished. This fantastic video by DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ has just kind of put me to shame, as the artist made it over a day or two. On this, the artist says she used “Blender hand-modelled furniture rendered with Cycles for the backgrounds, videoed puppet at 24p, basic processing in Davinci Resolve” and points out “who needs A.I. when we did this ridiculous thing in a day or two?”
This kind of has the vibe of a 1990s minimal French electronic track you uncovered in the depths of YouTube, one which has loads of lovely comments from people talking about their memories from youth that they associate with the track. To make a new song that feels rich and alive with the sense of memory like this is a wonderful thing indeed, and who better to do this than DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ.
Connect with DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ
Bandcamp / Website / Facebook / X / Instagram
Decoy Octopus - Fission Mailed
This is like stepping through the computer screen and becoming one with the void. Even though this song features sampled quotes from ‘Metal Gear Solid 2’ (I think), for some reason it makes me think of the scene in The Matrix where Keanu Reeves is bathed in the green light of his computer screen - in fact, a lot of Decoy Octopus’s music makes me think of The Matrix. ‘Fission Mailed’ is eerie, strange, and bewitching.
Connect with Decoy Octopus
Instagram | Facebook
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About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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