Synthwave - A Case Study on Vibes
No other genre that I'm aware of is able to survive (and thrive) on vibes alone, but somehow synthwave does. Let's talk about it.
I have an extremely soft spot for electronic music, a genre which comes in many shapes and sizes. Within the realm of electronic music, there is one particular subgenre that I periodically go through really intense phases with where it becomes almost obsessive and is the only thing I listen to for days on end. This week happens to be one of those phases. And that subgenre? Synthwave: an overt incarnation of 80’s nostalgia that somehow got weirdly blended (in some instances, though not all) with cyberpunk, an extremely specific sci-fi subgenre characterized by dystopian futuristic cityscapes filled with fast cars, computer networks, and Big Brother’s oppressive hand.
Synthwave is kind of an enigma in the fact that it’s nailed down such an overly precise and specific vibe. I’m not sure of any other genre that is so intensely settled on one image like this one is, but this vibe is totally consistent across artists in the genre (who also collaborate with each other, possibly with greater frequency than any other genre’s level of inter-artist collaboration, excepting hip hop). Just look at the album art from four separate artists to see the deep level of consistency:
You can do this with almost any album from these artists, there’s so much consistency in it.
In the midst of this over-the-top consistency with a very specific image, I find it absolutely crazy that I end up in these really intense phases of listening to a lot of synthwave without getting even remotely tired of the sameness that pervades the music’s imagery and sound. In fact, I had the realization the other day that synthwave is the only genre I know of that gets away with being 90% vibes and only 10% substance. It’s not like anything I’ve heard from these artists has been overly earth-shattering or unique, sonically or lyrically, but the music is just highly addictive.
But most of all, it’s fun. It’s just fun.
And it’s the vibes that make it so fun. I listen to an extremely broad variety of music, and I like different music for different reasons. Some music is deeply artistic and experimental. Some music is good for concentration. Some music is emotional and moving. But this? This is just vibes. And it gets away with it too, which is the most perplexing part to me. It’s not like I am being challenged by what I’m hearing, so why does it successfully suck me in when I go through a phase, as I know it does to many others who like it?
The answer is the vibes. Synthwave has nailed down 80’s-era nostalgia, synths, and drum machines (alongside other 80’s classic sounds) and combined it with such a specific environment and image that it’s hard not to love it and want more. Take, for example, the song “The Comeback Kid” by The Midnight (you can listen here), which is just the above, plus a guitar solo that sounds like it was ripped right out of 80’s classic rock, but the song just hits on all accounts. So does FM-84’s “Don’t Want to Change Your Mind” (listen to this one here). It’s the same vibe, entirely, and it also nails it as an excellent track.
Even still, the cheesy and over-the-top side of the genre that leans into the 80’s imagery further still nails it because they lean into the vibes so well. Gunship’s “When You Grow Up, Your Heart Dies” (listen here) is perhaps the most overt example of this. The song’s name itself was taken from a line from the classic John Hughes’ film The Breakfast Club, and the latter half of the track features clips of the band’s fans saying platitudes that somehow are given their meaning again because they’re cinematically shrouded in 80’s nostalgia and synthesizers. It’s possibly one of my all-time favorite tracks to come out of the genre because the vibes are so immaculate.
I could go on and on about various tracks and artists, but there isn’t a lot of variety to discuss. And that’s precisely the point I want to make here. How does an overly specific subgenre with very little variety and limited substance manage to generate such a large and devoted following off of imagery and vibes alone? I’m not certain I can answer the question, but it says a lot about the power of a theme and nailing down a precise sound. As such, synthwave is, to me, a case study on the power of vibes in music. If you do it right, you can accomplish a lot, and the artists in this genre have done just that.
I also want to emphasize that my saying the genre lacks variety and substance is by no means me saying the artists are not talented. In fact, I would argue that the opposite is true. These artists are extremely talented in a way that’s unique to their music. Other artists are masters of clever lyricism or experimental sounds, but these artists are gifted in their ability to craft an extraordinarily specific type of music with their writing to evoke 80’s nostalgia in such a way that they’ve romanticized it more than we already romanticize the 80’s as a society.
And as for the cyberpunk element? Well, I won’t get into that. That’s a whole other element of the genre worth discussing another time. But if you are curious, Gunship is a master of this side of the genre, and the track “Tech Noir” is a perfect demonstration of this.
In any case, if 80’s nostalgia and synthesizers are your thing, this is a fun subgenre worth exploring. I highly recommend it, with Timecop1983’s Night Drive and FM-84’s Atlas as great starting points.