Synth Single Review: “Machine Hearts (The Bad Dreamers Remix)” by The Bad Dreamers, jacket., & fakelife

by Karl Magi

The Bad Dreamers, jacket., & fakelife’s “Machine Hearts (The Bad Dreamers Remix)” adds to the wistful, emotionally engaging feeling of the original. The remix commences as hollow sounds tremble and David Schuler’s voice trails tentatively, heavy with melancholy. 

Rippling notes in the distance are calming as David Schuler’s pain permeates the song, the melody threadlike and fragile. Arpeggios rise and twirl with barely contained energy while the rhythm guides the track. The vocals remain hushed and hurt, full of yearning for escape and redefinition, drawing me in with their emotional depth. 

A rapidly undulating note pattern increases tension as a punchy beat adds shape. The vocals distort and the track slides into half-time, frozen in dense flow as clapping percussion guides the motion. Distorted tones twist and fade as the music comes to an end.

As the narrator and the song’s subject move through the city like night shadows he is “looking for an answer that my heart can’t seem to find,” carried through circuits of a home that once was his.

They share “fire in our eyes,” their hearts connecting when “those machine hearts come to life.” As the narrator wonders how the other person can sleep at night, he concludes, “You must not have a conscience,” while he remains tethered to their soul, trying to move on as they refuse to let him go.