Cassetter & Cyberwalker - After The Rush

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Cassetter & Cyberwalker’s “After The Rush” is a journey into a world that moves between '80s nostalgia and futuristic aspiration, framing cinematic imagery of a neon-lit metropolis and an atmosphere that combines towering skyscrapers, ultra-cool penthouses, and rain-drenched asphalt. Cassetter & Cyberwalker illustrate this world with synthesized layers and melodies that resound with emotion while incorporating guest artists who bring their own instrumental abilities to bear. The end result is an album that explores the place it creates and the emotions that permeate that place.

At the heart of “After The Rush” are the melodies written by Cassetter & Cyberwalker. Each melody is clear and defines a different mood or sensation, embellishing it with a plethora of synth sounds that deepen the feelings on display. The choice of different tones and colours in the synths helps to elucidate the emotions that move within the melodic writing. Each track brings together interwoven soundscapes that act like a film camera, capturing scenes and atmosphere with clarity and an ability to freeze moments.

Both OutRunner and Sleepless-Nights contribute guitar work that is intricate and full of expression, each of them bringing their own style to the music and giving more weight and depth to the artists' writing. Lebedev Sax also contributes his inimitable saxophone sounds to further increase the music's power. I enjoy the fact that each artist can bring their own sonic signature while continuing to add to the richness of the work that has been created.

“After The Rush” creates a nice balance between chillwave vibes and more energetic tracks. The end result is music that carries me along while still keeping me engaged and interested in the atmospheric nature of each track.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Left Behind” starts with the turn of a key as it travels down lonely roads, capturing a roaming journey with lapping notes that wash past with an air of soothing, peaceful thought. Drifting past like the miles down an empty highway, a rhythm moves like passing fence posts below the melodic pattern.

A growing intensity spills from scintillating tones, glinting and supported by a desolate wind flowing through the music. Slowly touching notes are driven by a riffling drum flourish before a pipe-like synth melody paints images of an endless horizon reaching out, a car moving with silent disconnection toward it.

A haunting refrain from Out Runner’s guitar captures emptiness and isolation, evoking a long wander past seemingly endless fields and hills. Sensations of hushed contemplation glide past before an impassioned guitar solo is coaxed from the instrument by Out Runner’s talented hands, full of fierce emotion in the face of the loneliness of the asphalt moving into forever.

A confusion of voices and softly touching notes move with a steady, widely bursting beat as “Moonlight” hovers with a steady sonic exhalation and a melody casts a cool brilliance, like the moon on a clear night as it evokes feelings of peace and midnight contemplation. Lucid notes shimmer like a carpet of stars before Sleepless-Nights’ guitar encapsulates loneliness and dreams of past happiness, crying out with layers of feeling and grasping me in its emotive grip.

A synth broadcasts astral brightness while the guitar conjures up images of a clear night and an open window, a silhouetted figure watching as the world sleeps. Impactful drums move with the sobbing guitar, as it seizes all of the melancholy and dreamy thought, its tones now limpid and clean as it moves above vibrating notes. A giant percussive pulse moves forward as a synth drifts in a misty line before the guitar captures every nuance of emptiness and sadness before silence falls.

“Downtown” starts with notes that bend in a rising pattern as the technologically edgy beat moves with notes that breathe out with azure light and a hissing background evokes late night TV static, as a single figure gazes out from a penthouse across the skyline while panpipe-like sounds ripple, creating a chilled out sensation and paints pictures of a backlit apartment, high above the city streets.

Computerized tones carry the enigmatic melody, generating contemplation and a sense of disconnection. Razor sharp notes are joined by strings that create metallic vibration, generating a feeling of futuristic progress in a city of skyscrapers and bustling crowds. The underlying heartbeat gives the music dynamic vibrancy before trembling notes broadcast brilliance and reverberant sounds flicker as a string pattern is joined by falling rain.

Rapidly tumbling notes like stars falling join a solidly rhythmic beat and “Road Hog” generates a growing sensation of energy and power as the drums echo with massive strength. Shining, interlaced notes move below the spinning synth which bounces in short, choppy motion to evoke a sense of dynamism while the heavy beat provides propulsion.

A feeling of possibility and the open road permeate the music as a melodic pattern reflects thrilling potential and the drums drop before trembling notes create irrepressible brilliance. Cymbals and a snare drum create a parade-like background while a minor key synth joins slicing notes that cut cleanly. Heaving underpinnings create gigantic muscle and tumbling tones evoke restlessness before the track ends.

“Irrelevant” moves mournfully through space as percussive weight slows and an echoing voiceover speaks of the irrelevance of time in certain moments. A cosmic wave surfs above the vast pool of sound below while starlit veils shimmer. Impressions of lonely, vast tracts of cosmic darkness permeate the track.

Rising with tremendous power before dissolving into a subtle echo, the synth fades before the saxophone traces lustrous lines, capturing aching feelings in vibrating tones, cascading and slipping like starshine through atmospheric haze. Lebedev Sax creates a transmission of pure feeling, reaching out to fill me with trembling loneliness.

An atmosphere of compassionate understanding for the emptiness in the music fills each element. Delicate tones shiver, painting images of astral beauty, like planets glowing in the endless night. The saxophone cries out, driving home a message of desolation and melancholy. Trickling strings shimmy before the track breathes out into silence.

A piano unfolds with complete tenderness and a floating mixture of gilded notes swells to bring “Rearview Dreams” into being along with distant percussion before the entire rhythm erupts with smooth propulsion. A melody like glassy water slips pass, evoking a quiet moment contrasting with the energetic underlayer.

The percussion drops as cutting notes move along with sailing tones before the beat snaps again while orchestral strings entangle with laid back simplicity and sunny warmth. Technological notes slice before the percussion fades and twinkling stars of sound illuminate the background.

Air sweeps in again and the lead synth transmits calm and relaxation balanced by reverberating beats. A weight lifts away from me and I feel all of my tension dissolve as the spaced out melody shimmers and the track comes to an end.

“Life Underwater” Floats with aquatic ease before the beat smoothly creates support, shaking sound adding vibration to trembling tones, like gentle underwater currents as bursting percussive moments splash like waves. flowing with the softness of tropical reef waters, notes flash like silvery fish and bubbles rising.

A wash of blue sound calls to mind weightlessly drifting in turquoise waters, carrying me far away from the world’s harshness. Luxurious tones add another element of deep water floating, painting images of a colorful reef and all of the life it contains. Sensations of warm water all around and an environment full of incredible beauty move as vocals echo wordlessly and the track comes to a close.

Raindrops fall before extended chords create silken motion and “Glass Journey (Timesloth Remix)” is supported by a column of bass and drums in contrast to the complete tenderness of the main melody which has a hushed, metallic quality. Watery notes sprinkle through as the lead synthesizer captures melancholy and peace in equal measure, balanced with the clean low end.

A saxophone throbs with fervency and a distant, disconnected sensation as bending sounds carry alien expression and technologically cutting notes move past. The drums add another layer of sharpness while twisting sounds roam through space with growing urgency.

Elevated synthesizer trembles while the piano sparkles in delicate, affectionate lines as the pattering beat is sliced by metallic echoes and the huge drums add form. A jagged note pattern contrasts with the background’s pastel tones before the music ends.

Conclusion

“After The Rush” is a fine instrumental contribution to the synthwave canon. The way in which it mixes instrumental talent with atmospherics and melody creates music that keeps me drawn in and excited by what I'm hearing. The cinematic nature of the album only helps make it more enjoyable.