Formed earlier in the year, Shades of Thunder is a power-duo comprised of Viennese producers Powernerd and Edictum, whose combined forces are set to rock the scene with their funky retro-futuristic grooves and catchy synth leads. Flight of Fancy is a retrofuturistic thrillride packed to the brim with the stuff retro dreams are made of, complete with a shiny cast of guests.

Beside British House vocalist Jan Johnston and legendary Ghibli theme song singer Azumi Inoue, the debut album completes the all-star cast with scene veteran and fellow collaborator Dana Jean Phoenix on ‘Breaking Glass’. Overall, the album twinkles and pulsates smoothly all throughout its ten tracks, effortlessly weaving between outrun cruising jams, bittersweet power ballads and even a bit of future funk grooves.

Spoilt as we have been with the half-dozen singles that dropped ahead of the album release, one does end up yearning for more new tracks. However, their recent post-album single drop ‘Darkness Falls’ comes as quite an encouraging sign that the boys will be back with more before we know it.

Favourite tracks:  FM Stereo, How Loud is Your Love, Breaking Glass

Shades of Thunder ‘ Flight of Fancy’ is out now via Bandcamp and Spotify.

Hi Dana! What’ve you got to recommend to us today?

I would love to talk about the film Labyrinth from 1986, starring David Bowie and directed by Jim Henson. I was born after the movie came out, but it’s one that was really important to me throughout my childhood. Even watching it now gives me that sense of ‘instant nostalgia’. I have some really cool older cousins who played it for me one Christmas when I was young. We were all big David Bowie fans and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. The music was amazing, the visuals were incredible, the puppet-work was really inspiring…

What do you remember about the music you grew up with?

My parents always played a lot of eighties music like Madonna and David Bowie. Later on, I got into Prince’s eighties catalogue. I remember the first album that I ever owned was Björk’s Post. That album really inspired me. Alternative rock was probably my first foray into music though. Electronic came in later on.

Do you remember what got you interested in diving into electronic music?

I think it was the sound of the synthesizers. They sound so warm. To me it’s this perfect amalgamation of humanity and technology coming together: Synthesizers are technical machines that we operate, but they ultimately need that human touch, that human connection to allow them to come to life. I love that aspect of it. The songs also remind me of the eighties music that I had been listening to as a child.

I remember getting into Boards of Canada and thinking what an incredible sound they had. That was also a big draw for me to jump into the Synthwave scene. I found that a lot of these Synthwave artists were incorporating these nostalgic eighties synthesizer sounds in a way that sounded poppy and dance-y, which is closer to my background as an artist. I like to perform and sing very upbeat music, and I like the fact that Synthwave is a nice fusion of the two worlds.

What I love about Synthwave is that it covers such a broad range of different types of music. You can have some of that orchestral, cinematic approach, or you can have some of the more dance-y, techno approach. You have great artists who are able to write really slick pop hits within that Eighties retro nostalgia framework. There are similarities to modern pop in that you can have great melodies, catchy hooks, and memorable choruses, but there’s a bit of grittiness, a bit of an unpolished, nostalgic feel to Synthwave that is more appealing to me than what you hear in some of the ultra-slick modern pop songs out there on mainstream radio.

Do you remember how and when you came across the Synthwave scene?

I believe it was on Soundcloud. I was at Theatre school at the time, which was certainly demanding and a lot of it was producing other people’s written work, whether it be music, monologues or theatrical pieces. I needed this creative outlet to explore my own voice and musical creativity. I believe I stumbled upon Robots with Rayguns and Betamaxx on Soundcloud, and I immediately fell in love with the sound and vibe that they were putting out. I reached out to them and they agreed to collaborate on a track, so I started releasing different collaborations with different artists. It all grew organically and ultimately developed into people contacting me and coming up with more and more material.

Have you got any news to share with our readers, any updates?

I just came out with the album Megawave, which is the collaboration album with Powernerd. I’m really excited to release it with Outland, which is also an event company that produces live shows. I’ve been really lucky to have performed three shows with them, two of them in London (UK) and once in my hometown of Toronto, where they put on a massive show this past summer. I’ve had a great working relationship with Powernerd over the last few years, working on various tracks. We performed two live shows together before. We have really good energy and we wanted to keep the momentum going with this album. People responding so well to it, and I’m thrilled about that. The next step, once everything opens up again, is planning the next European tour. I’d like to go back out there for the third time. I have dates booked for October, so my fingers are crossed. When everything is safe, it will be so nice to see everyone and experience some great music together under one roof again.

Thumbnail photo by Hayley Stewart.

Be sure to follow Dana Jean Phoenix on social media for more music and updates:

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Top 10 Retrowave Collaborations of 2019

10. DJ Ten & Lost Nights – Creation

9. Wayfloe – Spirit Bomb (feat. Violette Wautier)

8. FacexHugger – Power Unleashed (feat. Street Cleaner)

7. Futurecop! – We Belong (feat. Parallels)

6. Jay Diggs – Ready (feat. JJ Mist)

5. YORU 夜 & Turbo Knight – King And Queen (feat. Polemic Heart & Starquake Synthmaster)

4. Michael Oakley – Now I’m Alive (Feat. Dana Jean Phoenix)

3. NICOLAAS – No Stranger Thing (feat. Lucy Mason)

2. To Live & Die In LA – Remember (Feat. Dana Jean Phoenix)

1. Brandon – She’s on Fire (feat. SJBRAVO)

In December look out for an EP compilation including Nina, Vincenzo Salvia, Dana Jean Phoenix and Espen Kraft, on a lovely 45 rpm vinyl via Night Drive Records. Watch the video below for more info.

The much beloved synth siren Dana Jean Phoenix is back with her third, long-awaited full length album, “Synth City.” This collection of tracks is a powerful mix of dreamwave and synthpop – a true testament to just how amazing retro vocals can be when done properly.

Phoenix is a Canadian based synthpop singer known in Toronto circles as “DJP.” She isn’t your average vocalist – classically trained, and holding a degree in musical theatre, DJP also attended the hyper-famous Second City’s improv institute. (A set of pipes and funny too?)

Even if you haven’t listened to her previous albums, you’ve probably heard her stellar vocals before. She has been featured by numerous artists throughout various genres of synthwave – so much so that certain members of the community have come to call her “The Queen of Synthwave.”

This album is no different – “Synth City” features backing production from a litany of well-respected synth wizards such as Timecop1983, The Northern Lights, Highway Superstar, Robots With Rayguns, London Lazers, Till Wild, and The Amazing Mr. S. The result is a host of fantastic synth music backing DJP, and she doesn’t put that talent pool to waste.

The largely up-tempo “Synth City” swings through various synthesizer influences as the producers cycle through, with DJP acting as an anchor for the rest of the album. Her girly and sometimes sensual vocals shift through a range of influences as well, from hard 80’s pop (I.O.U.) and crooning love songs (Look To Your Heart)  to what could almost be described as stadium pop (Synth City.) 

DJP’s vocal range is impressive, to say the least – but more impressive to me is her range of pop styles. Listening to this album was like listening to the top 10 pop songs of the past 30 years – mashed together in one brilliant neon synthy splash.

DJP has created a really superb synth pop album here – and nothing is easy about vocals over synth music. This album isn’t one to miss – even if you’re not a fan of pop the synthwork here is superb.

Standout tracks: the incredibly catchy I.O.U. (Be careful with this one, it’s been stuck in my head for days.), Digital Life (RWR Remix), and Into The Future. 
 

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Sharp vocals echo, ping in and out, receding quickly with a gated reverb. Comforting harmonies join in the bridge with the stabby bass fueling the bodies movement, gives the song an addictive bounce. Plucky synths enter and the vocal line comes to life for the chorus and truly punches with glamour, hits of nostalgia of random glossy celebrity images from both the past and present. Rushing in as ill-formed snapshots, scattered poignantly out of sequence, some thrown to the wind.

This song is either from three decades in front or behind us, and I can’t decide which.

Support: https://soundcloud.com/nightcrawlermusic
https://soundcloud.com/dana-jean-phoenix

I’m guilty of describing music in terms of hipster mathematics. Death Cab For Cutie + Neutral Milk Hotel = The Decemberists. That sort of thing. Fifteen seconds into “Cast Away”, the opening track of Highway Superstar’s Endgame, the musical arithmetic was firing away. The Cure + a-ha, I thought. This isn’t any sort of indication of a lack of creativity. Instead, it’s evidence of strong songwriting, the most prominent trait through the album’s eleven track run.

The album fluctuates between tracks with guest-contributed vocals and purely instrumental tracks. Both manage to be memorable, and the album carries a baton of energy efficiently between the songs. I’m ordinarily a bigger fan of vocal tracks in my synthwave albums, but Endgame makes it difficult to choose between the two. “Stalemate Punks” is the highlight of the purely instrumental tracks.

The opener of “Cast Away” features vocals by Dana Jean Phoenix, a name that at this point in the scene is synonymous with quality and melody. Her voice and the onslaught of guitars from Hugh Myrone and Guy Elyahu give the song an edge and momentum that is extremely fresh in the genre. Guitars are not a new concept in synthwave, but the application of them in this song is what is important.

The songs on the album are impeccably mixed. The chiming highs are never piercing. The bass synths and kick drums sit comfortably in the mix, never overbearing the track in a way that a novice might. Every track on Endgame is indicative of how much Highway Superstar knows what he is doing.

“Burn This City” is an example of everything Highway Superstar does right all in one song. The song is confident, funky, and has little flourishes all over the place. Alex Karlinsky, the human behind Highway Superstar demonstrates his vocal chops alongside Honey Colonna, a singer who contributes to many of the best moments on the album. The result is an outstanding track filled with strong moments.   

2015 is proving to be a year of albums that are reaching new heights in different directions. So many good albums with distinct sounds have been released. Endgame doesn’t just sit comfortably with those releases, it manages to hold a position near the top of the pile. 

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