Welcome back, synth-heads! It’s the end of the month, and thus time for another edition of Retrocution here at Nine Circles. All told, May felt like a bit of a quieter month for synthwave, but we still got a fair number of highlights to sink our teeth into. Among these, though, the debut EP from GREYLANCER stood out the most. The six-song collection, SUBNET, dropped just this past week via Rosso Corsa Records — which should, in and of itself, speak to this thing’s quality. Need a bit more convincing, though? Read on and I’ll tell you all about it!
The EP:
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The “Analysis”:
So, as you probably know by now, I usually like to use the first bit of this section to provide a bit of background information on the artist(s) I’m profiling in a given month. Unfortunately… I can’t really do that with GREYLANCER! The producer’s managed to not-really-be-very-online in this, the year 2023 — which, honestly, is pretty enviable. Being online sucks. Aside from some Reddit posts and a few YouTube videos that reveal… uh… an apparent fandom of kabuki masks? …there’s not really a ton out there about the guy. Or… girl? Person. We’ll go with “person.” But, hey! I’m okay with it. Adds to the intrigue.
Anyway, SUBNET acts as a new EP, but actually compiles a series of singles released at different points since the project’s inception, three-ish years ago. That becomes clear relatively early on. The songs are all captivating as hell, and each one finds a way to hook you over the 21 minutes this thing runs. But because they’re not the product of a single writing or production period, there’s no one way in which they do so. The vibes are much more diverse throughout.
Take “Viper,” for example. After the relatively subdued introduction to the EP on “The Search”, this track enters like a shot of adrenaline, with a pulsating, uptempo beat and a chaotic, repeated lead line and loads of filters and distortion applied. It’s such an explosion that you could almost — but not quite — call it “darksynth.” But then, in contrast, the very next track, “Phaserbolt” feels much more like ‘classic synthwave’. It’s cleaner and nimbler in a way that recalls, say, the earliest Lost Years records.
Each song transition feels like a similar sonic leap. “Young Blood”, for example, feels more akin to the Outrun style of synthwave, but its immediate successor, “Dark Fortress,” feels haunting and theatrical in a way that almost wouldn’t feel out of place on a Castlevania video game soundtrack. Sure, you may need to recalibrate a bit going from one track to another, but it’s ultimately worth doing so, as everything here rules in its own way. That’s a more important achievement than pure and total sonic cohesion, in my book.
All in all, SUBNET is a debut (okay, “debut”) that shows a shit-ton of promise. If you’re not eager to hear what GREYLANCER comes up with next after listening to this thing, what are you even doing here?
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SUBNET is available now via Rosso Corsa Records. For more information on GREYLANCER, uh… good luck? None of their social media channels have been updated in more than a year. Maybe try emailing?
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More May synth highlights:
- Another month, another terrific new single from LukHash. The Edinburgh producer returned with “Alone Together” — shorter and more subdued than some of his other recent fare, but every bit as captivating.
- NYC-based duo Bunny X released their sophomore full-length, Love Minus 80, earlier this month. The album’s absolutely bursting with catchy retro-pop tunes, and even boasts collaborations with Don Dellpiero and SelloRekt / LA Dreams.
- Vector Hold dropped the Beverly Hills Cop-inspired new single, “Banana Tailpipe“, on May 20.
- Swedish singer Yota returned with “Holding On“, the bouncy, infectious first single from her upcoming album, Room 412. That drops sometime later this year via NewRetroWave.
- Stilz dropped the chilled-out, Gundam-inspired new album, RX-81, via NewRetroWave. It’s very much worth a listen-through.
That’ll do it for this month! You know the drill: tune back in this time next month for our recap of June’s best synthwave offerings. Until then, though…
Keep it synthy,
—Dan
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