Synth Single Review: “Find A Way Back Home” by Megan McDuffee & ALEX

by Karl Magi

Megan McDuffee & ALEX’s “Find A Way Back Home” bursts with forcefully hammering underpinnings as Megan McDuffee's voice drifts like a spectre through lonely halls, her voice trailing like a diaphanous shroud. A rushing underlayer balances floating vocals that conjure emptiness and abandonment while the sweeping synthesizer lines subtly support the painful message in the lyrics.

The rhythm is insistent as the soundscape adds hurting depth and supports Megan McDuffee's voice as it grasps me with feelings of loss and desperate wanting. The track is touched by a guitar that shivers like a ghost in the vaulted chambers of an ancient castle while the low end throbs. Broken emotions and tragic sensations permeate the background as it slips with tendrils of misty light. The beat is a metronomic pulse has the vocals hover like an ethereal spirit before the song comes to an end with haunting softness.

Saying she'd "give up all the pieces inside my soul for you" and erase the song subject’s ending while turning back the days, our storyteller inhales and exhales with an understanding that she has to continue on. She promises to "whisper your name" as she finds herself "sunken into grey, just an echo in the glass" and she misses the other person terribly.

With the ability to feel the song’s subject everywhere, the narrator wonders if she'll ever find her way back home. "Wandering in my thoughts, twisting shapes all climb the walls, throwing shadows amidst the light." It's impossible for her to explain her pain at the realization that the other person is gone. She asks, "So how do I sense your touch on my skin each night?"

Once more, our storyteller finds herself engulfed by grey, "following my halted step" as she keenly feels the other person's loss. She can sense the other person everywhere "haunting every page and stone." She wants the song’s subject to "let me find a way back home." Although she desires the other person endlessly, it's impossible and she adds, "I don't want to need to let you go. "

On misty mornings, the narrator visits the place where the other person ought to be in order to "hold the roughness of your loam" and concludes that she feels in "equal measures the fear and the comfort of your ghost and knowing I'm never alone."

Synth Single Review: “Legacy of Terror” by DROIDGLOW

by Karl Magi

DROIDGLOW’s “Legacy of Terror” explodes into life with unrelenting, forceful darkness and a sense of impending doom that is undeniable before the leaping foundation rockets with ferocious strength as the notes above cry out with barely restrained fear.

A high synth spills blinding light that balances the slashing underlayer before a melody captures majesty and danger in equal measure as the guitar cuts cleanly. The guitar melody is speedy and fierce, ripping at the music with hungry fangs while the low end accelerates.

A note pattern spins with uncomfortable feelings, like something waiting to strike in the shadows, while the bass and percussion hits hard. The synth gleams with a deadly beauty as it carries the melody with surprising softness and delicately fades as breezy notes drift.

I enjoy the contradictory sensations that fill me as the heavy underlayer punches me in the gut and almost reverent notes rise. The guitar howls with ghostly strength, a spirit drifting through the darkness before the track ends.

Synth Single Review: “Wall Street” by The Last Concorde

by Karl Magi

The Last Concorde’s “Wall Street” begins with exhaling notes tumbling in a pattern which creates a feeling of growing intensity and tension, reflecting the environment of a trading floor at the height of 1980’s greed. The repetitive pattern has a dynamic influence while gritty notes slice with adrenaline-pumping emotion before the forceful drums explode into a pounding beat.

Repeating panpipe notes tremble with growing excitement well the underlayer sweeps to create weight. The rhythm shapes floating notes that swirl with a breathy, silky sensation above the gigantic underpinnings as darkness tinges the music. A circular xylophone pattern creates feelings of dramatic events happening to galvanize me.

The main melody creates an electric thrill mingled with a hint of something more dangerous. Images of power suits and ruthless boardroom action permeate the music. Ominous tones climb below twirling notes to evoke unending stress. A constant feeling of competition and cutthroat activity fills the music as the track glides to an end.

Synth Single Review: “Home Movies” by Fonz Tramontano & Calida J

by Karl Magi

Fonz Tramontano & Calida J’s “Home Movies” spreads outward in a celestial canopy before layers of underpinning sound create slowly moving bass tides as the drum beat thumps in. Calida J’s voice breaks ever so slightly with nostalgic reminiscence as richness swells out around the heavy underlayer and driving drums.

String-like sounds curl with golden tones to convey the feelings within the lyrics. The drums become softer as the vocals seize many fond memories, conveying them directly into my heart with conviction. Effervescent notes glimmer on the horizon of the music while the rhythm pounds and Calida J transports me with earnest feeling.

Fonz Tramontano creates a sonic support that is as layered and as emotive as the vocal performance, intensifying the sensations as glassy notes exude dreaming, coruscating sound before the song ends.

"When the light starts fading, when the darkness brings its solitude," our narrator says the story fades out as the chapter closes too quickly. She adds, "they tell us working hard’s the only way" but points out that we aren't around to live forever. She continues, "you only regret the chances that you don't take, so we're right here in the thick of it."

Adding that "we've come so far and yet we're still so far away," the storyteller says that even if it feels like it's taking too long "we'll chase another day, we'll never quit." They've made half the distance but still have half the distance to go. A moment will come where it's over and "you go and play those home movies just to hear how you sound."

As our narrator says, "there's only photos now you're not around, memories are fading" she still recalls the song subject’s smile making her life feel worth living. To conclude, she says, "as the end is nearing, how we love this life with gratitude" and takes a last breath as "the night receives this tune."