Synth Single Review: “It's No Good (Depeche Mode cover)” by Fonz Tramontano & Calida J

by Karl Magi

Fonz Tramontano & Calida J's “It's No Good (Depeche Mode cover)” begins with more gossamer lightness than the original and replicates its ominous undertones with dense percussion and melancholy evoked with a bending end note. Calida J imbues the lyrics with distinct yearning, as deep and compelling as a storm brewing, while Fonz Tramontano creates a softer darkness than the original.

A less beak feeling permeates Calida J's performance, adding paradoxical tenderness. The melodic pattern defines the song with mingled emotional pain and expectation of eventual fulfillment. As the chorus moves, shadows drift with tones that gleam like diamonds in a velvet surround before the melody touches with tentatively trembling fingers. All of the emotion within Calida J’s vocals transfers to me with immediacy and passion before glittering bells add a tinge of hope to the hurt before the song ends on dark undulations.

Vowing that she'll take all the time she has, which is all the time in the world, the narrator says that it's written the stars and in a divine decree that the other person will be by her side. They can try to run but can't hide from her and she reminds them not to say that they need her, want her or love her because that's understood.

Our storyteller pleads with the other person not to say they're happy without her because she knows it can't be true as it’s no good. She reassures them that she'll be alright and will wait patiently until the other person sees the signs and runs into her open arms. She wonders when the other person will realize the attraction.

As the song concludes, the narrator asks if they’ll have to wait until their worlds collide until the other person opens their eyes and understands that they can't turn back the tide.

Synth Single Review: “Halcyon Days” by Aisle 9

by Karl Magi

Aisle 9's “Halcyon Days” swells to life like sunlight spilling through a newly opened window as the reggae-influenced groove generates laid back tropical sensations well notes flow like warm ocean water. Percussion locks into the Caribbean blue surroundings, as a trembling synth moves through me with complete serenity. 

Melodic tones weave a pattern of relaxation and wistful happiness to call to mind days spent on the beach. Aisle 9's guitar paints pictures of idyllic calm and days of lazing and lounging beside an azure pool. A synth, like the heat of a noonday sun, glows while the underlayer slides past. 

Aisle 9 plays a solo which echoes with all of the passion and joy of youthful summers, slipping out in a breezy pattern. The guitar eddies like palm fronds in tropical wind before the track exhales in a final tranquil glide of gentle memory.

Synth Single Review: "When They Come Around" by Sun City

by Karl Magi

Sun City's "When They Come Around" opens with luminous guitar and Jonas Klintström Larsen's saxophone, creating a sensation of desire and yearning while the velvety smooth vocals slip with undeniable, soulful passion above the supporting foundational pulse.

The saxophone flies with silken need while Chris Catton creates a similar feeling of want and fierce attraction as the hollow, classic '80s percussion locks in with the funky guitar. As Jonas Klintström Larsen's saxophone solo slips out, it exudes laid-back feelings that are permeated with the ghost of deeper emotion.

Chris Catton has a voice that captures blazing feeling in a way that pulls me inward before Chris Catton's guitar solo cries with ferocious, fervent attraction as it cuts cleanly in complex lines. A welter of heart-swelling emotion flows from Mads Noye's synth as the active percussion throbs with the strumming guitar, while the saxophone dances with luscious fervency before the music ends.

"I don't know if you loved me for more than a moment, but you made it feel like forever," as our storyteller says he only stopped to catch his breath for a moment and "as I looked back I could see your eyes, staring back at me, the eyes of a sinner." He says that those eyes haunt everything he does.

Warning the listener not to be fooled by a feeling, the narrator says, "When they come around, if they catch you dreaming, then it's over," and you'll find yourself running into the setting sun. He goes on to say, "I don't care if you used me for personal reasons, you played your part so well, it ain't fair, I thought that love never fell out of season."

"You went too far, just wanted to know you but you'd just made up your mind," and our storyteller wishes he'd been given a chance by the other person so he could "show you I'm a dreamer till the day I die."

Synth Single Review: “Stop” by W O L F C L U B & Angie Robba

by Karl Magi

W O L F C L U B & Angie Robba's “Stop” captures fiercely moving emotion with rough-edged electric guitar strumming in a static-filled line that shifts uncomfortably as Angie Robba broadcasts all of the burning feelings that rise within her before the percussion shudders with guiding energy.

All of the intensity and aching feeling within Angie Robba's unique and earnest voice transfers to me through the pained, needy melody. The chorus bursts with all of the drama of a growing sunrise before the heavy underlayer is joined by the guitar that calls out, encapsulating all of the mixed passion and vulnerability within the lyrics and the vocals.

All of the fierce love and loss that pours from Angie Robba drives home the song's message. As the rhythm slowly slides away, tangling notes growl from the guitar with conviction and strong emotion before the chorus spills out once more and the song ends.

With the outline of the city in the background, a shadow stands with our narrator and she says she'll "see it in a matter of time and I'll hold it tight but know that the shapes will blur in contact," because it's her imprisoned in a moment of her own. While she watches the past take shape slowly, she says, "My eyes don't even know me, reckless and so carelessly numb."

The song's subject's form reveals itself softly, "transparent and so ghostly," which she can remove as though brushing it away with her thumb.

"I'm falling for you, I'm falling apart," as she announces that she'll fall for the other person one more time and then stop. She'll keep the song's subject in her pocket like a "gold chain and silver locket." Like a photo stolen from a frame, she cuts the other person's shape out to fit them in. She says that it was "chopped up from the beginning to hold the paper, you and the weight."