The decade is all over the music. Glossy synth pads dominate the arrangement, backed by driving bass through the verses and distinctly 80s-sounding drums. Occasional bursts of wonderfully over-the-top, flashy guitar push things even further into the excess, while Heledd’s slightly conversational vocal balances a frenetic edge with a sultry cool. It’s bright, insistent synth-pop with new-wave running right through it.

Bright Light Bright Light’s Rod Thomas makes an excellent Launderette Man, his sinister delivery providing a delicious contrast to Heledd as the pair meet for a theatrical middle-eight duet. It’s here that the song’s playful concept really comes alive, turning financial greed and moral compromise into something knowingly ridiculous and irresistibly catchy. ‘Launderette’ embraces the biggest, glossiest parts of the 80s aesthetic — dirty laundry and all.

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Spectacular synths dominate a deliberately straightforward arrangement, their crisp, glossy production joined by a driving drum machine and unmistakable flashes of 80s nostalgia. There’s a darkwave influence running beneath the neon surface, but ‘Dancing (With What’s Left)’ remains firmly rooted in synth-pop, keeping its focus on a clean, danceable groove rather than overloading the track with unnecessary details.

Detalji’s self-described “gothic voice” provides its most unusual element. Rather than the detached delivery often associated with darkwave, their vocal becomes operatic and theatrical in places, bringing drama to the otherwise streamlined production. The contrast works beautifully: anxiety and escapism sit beneath music that feels polished, vibrant and made for movement. Sometimes dancing doesn’t solve what’s left — but for a few minutes, it offers somewhere else to put it.

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Logic1000 creates a warm, spacious electronic backdrop around that message, pairing a steady pulsing beat with dreamy synths and hints of luminous 80s synth-pop. There’s melancholy running beneath the surface, but flashes of uplift prevent it from becoming weighed down by its subject. Rather than chasing a dramatic peak, the track settles into its atmosphere and stays there, allowing Rahim’s unmistakable voice to sit prominently above the production. His delivery is deeply emotive without needing to force the sentiment, bringing an intimacy to a song concerned with something much bigger than itself.

That passing of the baton becomes beautifully literal in the accompanying video. A young dancer initially takes the floor alone in a vast hall before Rahim joins her for loose, playful choreography. Gradually, a troupe of children dressed similarly to Rahim enters the picture, eventually taking centre stage together. It’s a simple but affecting visual representation of the song’s message: trusting the next generation enough to make space, then letting them lead.

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A driving beat and bassline lock the track into a hypnotic groove, surrounded by bright, shimmering synths that recall the more danceable reaches of 80s new wave. But Jae Matthews keeps one foot firmly in the shadows. Her detached, resigned drawl brings a dark sensuality to the track, creating a striking contrast with the buoyant production beneath it. There’s a touch of Joy Division and New Order in that collision of melancholy and movement, but it remains unmistakably Boy Harsher.

Its retro lyric visualiser completes the picture, displaying karaoke-style words across the flickering screen of an old television. ‘Tough Luck’ feels made for driving through rainy city streets after dark, neon reflected across the windscreen and nowhere particularly urgent to be. Heartbreak might be at its centre, but Boy Harsher make it sound dangerously good.

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There is no single element doing the heavy lifting here; the synths, beat and Jasmin’s ethereal vocal slot together perfectly, creating a sound that feels simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic. The Goldfrapp comparison is particularly apt, with shades of Alison Goldfrapp in Jasmin’s delivery adding to the track’s otherworldly quality, while gleaming synths and a hypnotic rhythm pull everything deeper into its retro-futuristic world. Dreamlike without disappearing into a haze, ‘Faceless’ has a tangible pulse beneath all that ethereal beauty, resulting in a track that feels wonderfully immersive from beginning to end.

The accompanying video completes the picture beautifully. Surreal, retro-futuristic imagery follows characters seemingly existing alongside one another while occupying their own parallel realities, gradually heightening that uncomfortable feeling of connection without genuine closeness. It’s a striking visual representation of the song’s themes, where something familiar has been twisted just enough to feel strange. On ‘Faceless’, Jasmin Stone proves that looking backwards and forwards at the same time can create something rather special.

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The synths steal the show from the very first note, driving the song forward with infectious energy while angular guitars add bite and urgency. Echoes of St. Vincent and Beck are woven throughout, but ‘Simple Pleasures’ feels even more immediate and effortlessly catchy, striking a perfect balance between alternative edge and pop accessibility. Subtle robotic vocal treatments and electronic flourishes hint at the song’s dystopian themes, while its groove remains impossible to resist.

Despite its weighty subject matter, ‘Simple Pleasures’ is bursting with personality. Roxanne de Bastion’s charismatic vocal performance gives the track a playful, almost kitschy charm that makes it feel tailor-made for the dancefloor. Clever, colourful and packed with earworm melodies, it’s a thrilling glimpse into an exciting new chapter for one of the UK’s most distinctive songwriters.

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The track came together in under an hour, sparked by a synth idea from Marcone (songwriter/mix engineer/co-producer/synth player) that immediately clicked with Jenni Dreager (vocalist/songwriter/co-producer/drum programming). Vocals were re-recorded to preserve the relaxed, honest energy of the original demo, while production choices focused on simplicity – letting the synths lead and keeping the vocal delivery low-key. The result is a track that feels effortless, warm, and immersive.

“Some songs take forever to write, but this one came together really quickly and naturally,” Jenni shares. “I recorded the vocals and ended up hating them because I was trying too hard! So I re-recorded them the same way I sang the demo – just relaxed and not overthinking it. That version felt way more honest and worked better with the track.”

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Expanding on her carefully crafted lush, ‘80s tinged pop palette, ‘Shake Off’ flirts with a more lo-fi sound. Taking inspiration from New Order and Day Wave, and moody pop artists like Sky Ferreira, charly adds acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and ominous arpeggiators, surrounding her tender vocal. With shimmering melodies and painfully relatable storytelling (“thought we were love drunk, but you’re two years sober”), charly captures the delicate juxtaposition of bright and dark, hope and abandonment, desire and crushing heartbreak.

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Made up of producer Johan Agebjörn and an anonymous female vocalist who uses the pseudonym Sally Shapiro; the duo are known for their dreamy, melancholic sound and nostalgic homage to 1980s Italo disco and gained international recognition with their debut album Disco Romance (2007), which was then followed by My Guilty Pleasure (2009), Somewhere Else (2013) and their debut for Italians Do It Better Sad Cities (2022).

The name “Sally Shapiro” has always referred to both the duo, as well as the enigmatic anonymous singer whose real name is something else. But “Sally” is also a third entity: the fictional character singing about her love stories. It’s now been 18 years since Sally Shapiro’s debut album Disco Romance, that took influences from italo disco and indie pop with a naive and youthful flavor, as if everything “Sally” did was to “walk in the moonshine thinking about my love affairs”, as she once put it.

Ready To Live A Lie may, however, be the duo’s darkest album yet. The lyrics have shifted from the euphoria of first love to exploring “Sally’s” struggles in long-term relationships—love triangles, boredom, resentment, and the lingering sense of loneliness.

On the record, Johan said “We live in the era of lies. We deceive ourselves, our partners, and those around us. On social media, we paint pictures of perfect lives, only to be fed falsehoods in return—by algorithms, newsfeeds, and politicians.”

Sally added “But perhaps, at times, we need these deceptions to get by. Maybe loneliness is somehow inescapable and we simply do our best to navigate life.”

Ready To Live A Lie:

1. The Other Days
2. Hard To Love
3. Rent
4. Purple Colored Sky
5. Happier Somewhere Else
6. Guarding Shell
7. Hospital
8. Did You Call Tonight
9. Oh Carrie
10. He’s Not You
11. Rain

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In collaboration with her producer Agoldencoast, Mary Jeans delivers a musical work inspired by the iconic sounds of the Stranger Things series and 80s synth-wave. Originally created to accompany the Quebecois short film AFFAMÉ, this enchanting melody has been reinterpreted by the artist in a personal version.

The song explores the dark nuances of obsessive and toxic love, while also allowing for a more fantastical interpretation: that of a vampire eager to transform their beloved for eternity. This duality between destructive passion and immortal desire perfectly aligns with the retro 80s theme, adding a touch of horror film atmosphere.

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