Luke Tangerine – Synthedelic (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Luke Tangerine has been all over the electronic musical landscape. I don’t mean that to suggest an unfocussed meander, blundering unconsciously over generic boundaries. Actually, quite the opposite. His is a sonic exploration, one that sees him and his collaborators shine a light into the undiscovered corners of all manner of genres, willfully cross the old musical demarcations, and herald the digital age in areas that have for far too long been the bastion of analog adventurers. From synthwave sonics to clubland EDM flavors, from post-disco to ambient soundscaping, he has already covered a lot of ground.

Here, he navigates across more post-punk and new wave waters, aided by regular collaborator and musician Robson Darker, amongst others. Opener “Magic Moment” is the sound of worlds colliding, namely that of the ’70s Dusseldorf of Kraftwerk with the darkwave sounds of the UK-based gothic electro pioneers and the synthwave grooves of the pre-charting New Romantics. And the result is fantastic.

From here, Synthedelic travels through a tantalizing taste of what psychedelia might have sounded like, or at least a sub-genre of it, had affordable synthesizers been available in the late sixties with “Toy.” Disco from a different dimension with “Neonlicht.” Anthemic retro-futuristic dancefloor highs with “Lights Out.” And there is even an acoustic version of the opener, which now plunges much deeper down the post-punk sonic rabbit hole. “To Be Continued…” takes us out on a piece that feels like a cinematic soundtrack to an 80’s movie and is the perfect way to end.

Luke Tangerine is not that concerned with genres. He understands that musical instruments, in his case synthesizers and the studio, are just tools, and genres are merely suggestions thought up by lazy journalists. He doesn’t even seem that bothered about his fans’ and followers’ expectations and comfort zones, preferring to introduce them to new sounds and ideas with each release.

Isn’t that what you want from music? Not a return to yesterday but a glimpse of the future? Even if, at times, that future echoes brilliantly and wilfully with the sounds of the past? I know I do; if you are honest with yourself, you do too.