If 2017 was the year when retro-synth made a huge comeback to the underground world, keep your pants on 2018, because it’s already stacking up to be a wild era where the lines between goth, pop, postpunk and dark ambient get blurred like the stars when you’re staring out of the window of a train on a clear Berlin night. Latest in line is Semiotics Department of Heteronyms from Barcelona, comprised of local legends Andrea P. Latorre and Sergi Algiz, founders of Conjunto Vacio label and post-punk band Wind Atlas. Bringing back all the smoothed out synth from the 80s but drawing out elements reminiscent of trip hop and whimsical dreampop, your morning commute is about to be just as lit as the dance floor on a packed night.
Breathing is better than kissing anyway
Their debut 3 song EP comes out today via Avant! Records and thoroughly lacks the ability to disappoint. Consciously or not, SDH has created a release so instantly amicable as to polarize none but destroy any lingering resentment you had in your heart for the throw back glitz and flicker of arguably the best decade of modern music. Reminiscent of the forceful dim-lit electronic dance of Boy Harsher but with all the musing romanticism of VOWWS, they make the maintenance of minimal synth look second nature. One can get buried looking for quality in an atmosphere that makes it all to easy to eek out a MIDI sequence in a pirated plug-in and call it music so I’ll do you a favor and save you the surfing for the next round of digital heroes.
