Pink Skylines & Gasoline
Photo by Lexi Lauwers from Pexels
by Karl Magi
This is the first in a series of vignettes inspired by synthwave and related genres. I want to share some of the images painted in my mind by the music as I listen to it. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey as the music flows.
As a sleek black S-Class Mercedes coupe slides down the road, glinting city lights flash off the lustrous paintwork while its distant V8 rumble mingles with the sounds of traffic and muffled beats from a nightclub. The city skyline is limned in pink luminescence as the phosphor of the streetlights reflects off dark asphalt. Passing neon-lit buildings and hidden alleyways, the car moves like a stealthy panther, all of the brightness reflected in the tinted windows. Moving onto the freeway on-ramp, the driver accelerates, the V8 growling urgently before fading into the background again.
The lights of the buildings pass by, winking like a thousand stars, while the soft patter of the tires on asphalt becomes a hypnotic throb. The driver pops a cassette into the deck and the music flows around her while the city lives and breathes. She allows her mind to wander, letting go of the sensations of loss and bitterness flooding her. He’d left her earlier that week, only a note to tell her that it was over. She’d known it was coming, but the pain still flared when she thought about it.
High-end condominiums glide by, each unit glowing with soft-focus light, painted in gentle pastels. The Mercedes moves like a shadow, all smooth elegance, while the driver rolls a window down and lets the summer air pour in, washing over her skin as she exhales, aching emotion filling the sound. Inhaling deeply, the mingled scents of flowers and gasoline create a surreal contrast, as hurt and lingering passion remain tangled in her mind.
Letting herself move without thought, she slips off the freeway and back into downtown as the city grows denser, skyscrapers climbing above her. She glances at the tiny motes of sparkling luminosity, like the broken hearts in that galaxy of pinpoints of light. The downtown streets throb with life, a crowd of mohawk-sporting punks in leather mixed with men and women dressed in charcoal gray out on the town. She watches it all pass by, her gaze drinking it in, as though it might push away the brokenness hidden inside her.
Once again, she pulls onto the high-speed road, the big Mercedes coupe squatting on its haunches like a leaping cat as the V8 roars and launches her forward. The lines on the road blur into a continual yellow rush while the galaxy of luminosity begins to fade behind her. The city becomes a distant creature, the horizon glowing with soft moonlight, and she disappears into the desert darkness that enfolds it all. Maybe out there, in that vast place, she’ll escape for a little while.
