Synth Single Review: “welcome back” by Shadowrunner

by Karl Magi

Shadowrunner’s “welcome back” swirls to life before a broken beat snaps to attention and endlessly spinning tones descend with active speed before wandering into a piano melody that captures serene, floating peace while distant strings flicker.

As the breakbeat slips past in laid-back motion, it evokes a warm and inviting atmosphere that calls to me as undulating notes become a melody capturing deep ease. Descending sounds draw an iridescent pattern above the continuously stuttering drum beat as profound comfort and settled calm slip from the melody.

Strings create an element of caressing elegance while the piano shines with encouraging radiance and the rhythm fades away. Quickly flickering notes flash as a gentle voiceover adds more thoughtful emotion and the violin cries out with leaping uplift.

As the breakbeat sails by, intertwining tones exude prismatic brightness and the underlying synth forms a round pattern that holds me with soothing energy before the track ends.

Synth Single Review: “Count On It” by Star Runner & By Forever

by Karl Magi

Star Runner & By Forever’s “Count On It” slowly builds vitality from tones like sunrise creeping over skyscrapers before the beat joins By Forever’s sincere vocals and the energizing groove in his sung melody, while descending tones flash with gentle brightness.

Drums tick softly while the vocals drift with bubbly, uplifting feeling, jumping into the chorus, which explodes exuberantly while the rhythm cruises along beneath. A feeling like morning sun on my upraised face flows through me as the vocals wrap around me.

By Forever captures emotional depth in his gently touching performance, full of love and passion, metallic sparkles glinting like solar beams through a window. An easygoing groove locks in while the vocals fly with feather-light relaxation and glittering notes permeate from a saxophone that pours through the music like liquid honey, lithe and silken. 

Star Runner’s guitar shines like luminous brightness in the early morning while the hovering synth spills with serene warmth and the song closes with encouraging feelings.

Wondering, “What is this bliss that I’m feeling?” our narrator likens it to a fire that’s blazing to life. He’s “caught in perpetual healing,” meaning he could never leave the song’s subject at this point. He intends to awaken himself because “it’s easing the weight that my soul carries,” and he won’t run away so that they can “hold our peace.”

Asking the song’s subject what they have to say, he adds, “You loved, you loved, you loved,” and he could never leave them now. He continues, “With this real love, I’ll find a way to give you it all now,” pointing out that his heart will find the other person and that it’s something they can count on. Recalling what the other person said, their words like a distant memory, he says, “We whispered the night away and held our peace.”

Every time he considers turning away, “there’s something wrong inside,” but “I’ll just run in your direction.” He concludes that he could never leave the other person now.

Synth Single Review: “Crimson Moon” by Venturer

by Karl Magi

Venturer’s “Crimson Moon” spills out luminosity in melodic tones that carry growing tension and approaching threat as they tangle with Baroque influences in the melody, filling me with apprehension and nervous anticipation.

Sharp edges contrast with the crystal luminescence pouring out above the reverberant percussion, which confers forward motion on the intertwining melody. Ever-present danger swells as a gruff guitar carries a nervously churning pattern, capturing the deadly force waiting in the blood-red light of the moon.

Metallic percussive elements add clean motion before a reverent choir chants with uncomfortable darkness, and the resonant tones echo with ancient fear as the drums return. Static crackles like claws raking through the wall of shimmering notes as the melody seizes me with shadowy portent, speaking of eldritch dangers lurking in the crimson glow. As the worshipful choir cries out, waves of synth ripple before the track stops.

Synth Single Review: “Lovers” by Bunny X, SelloRekt / LA Dreams & The Lightning Kids

by Karl Magi

Bunny X, SelloRekt / LA Dreams & The Lightning Kids’ “Lovers” extends in a cool sonic cloud, guided by slowly undulating percussion through which SelloRekt / LA Dreams creates a mood of softness before the lead singer captures the hurt and continuing desire that permeates the lyrics in a melody which brushes with tentative fingers.

Emma Ballantine harmonizes with added warmth and painful reminiscence while diamond arpeggios shine like dreams in the darkness above the rhythm, which echoes smoothly. The two singers intermingle their voices, aching with need and thwarted passion, while a synth nebula shines around them.

Love drips from the words, leavened by the poignant awareness that this affection may never be realized. Darryn McHardie’s guitar sails out on a tide of shining stars, transmitting a solo that encapsulates all of the burning attraction and broken hope within the words. Hushed beats move with the chorus that caresses in tender melancholy before the song undulates into quiet.

"I was fine for a while, even with a broken heartbeat," but for our storyteller it's like a blazing inferno, and there are "too many secrets to keep." Sometimes she can keep it under control and held in place, but "when I see you it all ignites again, whenever you're around," and she deeply wishes that they could become lovers.

"As cold as a stone sky, my heart breathes in and out" as it sinks and swims noiselessly. The storyteller points out that she'll always be reaching for the other person in her mind because "that's where we are suspended in time."