Plenty of musicians look to the past for inspiration, but it's hard to imagine anyone who has willfully moved themselves back to the 1980s with as much determination as , who also trades under the name . You name the new wave synth pop gesture, and has almost certainly resurrected it somewhere on ' , a set of moody electronic melodies from the axis where and meet. While the tone of frequently hovers somewhere between cool and dour, this music manages to work up a potent head of steam on tracks like and there are genuinely catchy melodic hooks on that lift up the tunes even when they dip into minor keys (which isn't at all uncommon). uses his presumably large collection of vintage synthesizers and drum boxes to conjure up a world of sound that recalls a very specific time and place, but he's gifted enough that the results sound like the stylistic kin of his influences rather than some sort of plagiarism; if he'd tried to pass this off as an unreleased product, the prank probably would have worked, not just because the details sound right, but because it still reveals a musical mind of its own, and with music as derivative as this, that's no small accomplishment. is the work of an artist who has found his voice in the sound of another era, and it speaks quite eloquently on ; anyone who enjoys the chilly rush of classic era synth pop will be jazzed by this music, and even those who prefer "real" pop music may find they're not immune to its charms. ~ Mark Deming