Synthonic

Hot town, summer in the city! There's a certain strut to a warm summer day on the town. You walk a little taller, you don't realize you're sporting a grin over your normal stone face. The glass twinkles on the buildings, the trees burst with an indescribable green, the city is teeming with life. That's the scene that London's Synthonic is setting with his latest EP Sunshine. The latest release from producer Kieron Garrett leads the listener through a technicolor cornucopia of sounds that will infallibly warm the soul and get you striding down the street with gusto. The album takes modernized 70s space synths, played with a jazz master's touch and floats them over funky ass beats.

The album comes on with lush cascading waves of synthesis, not unlike the rising vibes after popping a pill. No time to dwell, the bending and weaving wash is met with tingling marimba motifs and a bombastic beat. Talk box vocals crest and coalesce with the swelling sound. Garrett drifts off on giddy tangents, fluttering and squealing on his keys. The track brings to mind some of Daft Punk's work if they had a penchant for virtuosic writing rather than simplified synth riff rock.

'Groove Report' settles into a nice chill vibe. Shuffling drums bob around sassy clavinet. Digital raindrops are brought in by gentle winds. Garrett's go-to solo synth flies free like a Miles Davis trumpet line. 'Come On, Get Up!' hangs heavy on a snare that lands firmly and squarely in the middle of the beat while Garrett hypes up all around it playing some hard syncopation off of the rock-steady rhythm of a bubbling bass synth. 'Head Banging' finishes the album off strong with a bouncy, jazzy throwdown that would keep big-hat Jamiroquai guy disco dancing for hours.

Sunshine is a heavy dose of just that. Warm happy summer tunes to put a pep in your step. Where was Sunshine three months ago?!? We'll just have to use this album to keep ourselves bouncing through the winter.