A song is not destined to be condemned as formulaic due only to its use of a hook. At least not if the process of getting to that hook is made to feel almost entirely new to the listener. Much like a great film’s main story can be a tale as old as time and still feel fresh, a song can introduce a melody used for decades and trick the listener into thinking the artist has just discovered fire.
The ability to do this is among the short list of signs that a songwriter has truly mastered their craft. Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers has come excitingly close to achieving this feeling completely with the release of Synthesizer. All while still managing to offer enough weirdness to give a fresh perspective to writing modern pop songs.
In today’s sphere of music, more and more are seeing the trend of the marketable vs. the unmarketable. Songs with potential to earn, as opposed to songs that are made for the love of the craft. Something has begun to be lost however in this battle for creative nobility. There is no law saying experimental music can’t be catchy, it feels that sometimes we forget that as creators and as an audience.
A Place to Bury Strangers is a project out of Brooklyn. Started by Ackermann in 2002, the band has released over a dozen studio albums to date. Synthesizer is proof enough that these musicians are far from running out new musical areas to explore.
Synthesizer is an album with strong and direct ties to its influences. Specifically its ties to garage punk and dark synth wave of the ’70s and ’80s. If Ackermann didn’t have The Cure or Joy Division posters on his wall growing up this would come as a surprise.
There is such a gothic sensibility about this release. Synths and screeching guitars create vampiric instrumentals while Ackermann bears their soul pumping nihilistic vocals into the tracks. Like Bauhaus with a greater lust for blood. Listeners will also be able to hear a Robert Smithesque charm to Ackermann’s vocal delivery.
This is an album that will give hope to those in love with melody and those worried that guitar music has become out of style. Anyone who comes across this review is encouraged to listen as soon as possible.
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