Synth pop: never say die

Did you hear Teeel’s 2011 album Amulet? I didn’t think so. As an avid electronic music proponent, I refuse to let Teeel’s new record, University Heights, suffer a similar fate. Simply put: If you enjoy the voltage-drenched goodness of New Order and Pet Shop Boys, you’re going to dig this album and then some.

The baffling thing about contemporary throwback ’80s synth pop is its staggering quality-to-quantity ratio. While genres like black metal and grindcore have absolutely abysmal ratios, it seems like every band that attempts synth pop ends up putting out a stellar record. Teeel’s University Heights is no exception to this rule and plays like a tribute to the analog synthesizer in contemporary music’s binary scrub-down.

Bands like Tesla Boy and Com Truise are the acts to whom Teeel (A.K.A. Jim Smith) owes the greatest debt, as they are his most recent sound-alikes. Fans of those acts should appreciate Smith’s analog swagger because his dense, punchy synths hit exceptionally hard, especially on tracks like “Quaid.”

Smith’s workroom is the stuff of gearhead legends. His is a tiny room stacked to capacity with vintage synthesizers that would make most aficionados jealous. The walls are plastered with synth ads (most of them for Moog gear), and his computer is adorned with the Moog logo as well. A Moog Rogue sits perched atop the piles of circuitry—the same unit responsible for songs by everyone from Peter Gabriel to Mr. Oizo to KMFDM.

A curious lower-spectrum completion in Smith’s bass lines immediately sets his music apart from any other electronic pop music. His choice of real vintage gear for the bulk of the instrumentals on University Heights immediately makes all bass squelches and soaring arpeggios come alive.

Smith’s song structuring is masterful. His tracks even harken back to the ’80s in terms of layout and layers, something that truly keeps other synth-pop groups from sounding as if they were born and bred in the epoch they draw from.

In the ’80s, the synthesizer was billed as the “hot new thing” in music, and nearly every band had one. Some acts relied solely on the synthesizer for their notoriety. Those artists had one or two seasoned synth-men in the studio pushing all the buttons and arranging every line—almost nothing was left to the artists.

Smith sounds like he was one such knob-twiddling producer, tired of others taking credit for his studio chops. His stuff is that good. It sounds manufactured, but we know different.

Some tracks, like “Moogwai” and “Deadites,”sound so lush and full, you’ll swear you’re watching WarGames or Cloak & Dagger as they play. The songs sound straight out of any ’80s movie featuring an abundance of mysterious technology. “Deadites” in particular drips with analog goodness so thick that it will feel like it won’t fit in your ear canals.

It’s important to note that the reason the majority of the noises present on University Heights sound so ’80s is that they were made with the same equipment. When one factors in the wistful gasps of vocals that are so indicative of cold, metallic synth-pop groups, it’s easy to classify this as a legitimate ’80s synth-pop record—because for all intents and purposes, it is.

Accolades aside, this isn’t to say that the album is without its fair share of sleepers. “Wraith” sounds like it has absolutely no place on the album. It’s a sparse instrumental piece that serves the purpose of differentiating University Heights’ status as an LP instead of an EP. It’s also the only song on the record with no drums, predictably sitting right in the middle of the record. Such an obvious interlude on an album that people are driven to solely because of the synths and ice-cold production is a serious faux pas.

And unfortunately for Smith, the excellence ends with the instrumentation and structuring. If anything needs work on University Heights, it’s Smith’s vocals. Songs like “88mph” could certainly benefit from a refined vocal approach or a complete scrapping of the singing altogether. Some of Smith’s vocals work as “extra synth,” i.e., atmospheric, ethereal musings that are far from the focal point of the tracks, such as the album’s closer, “Marx on My Heart,” where the “background approach” is executed flawlessly.

Although the vocals aren’t enough to drag the album down entirely, a little less focus on them would have been appreciated. However, the more emotive vocals laid forth by Smith work well with University Heights as a solid artistic endeavor, one that runs the gamut of human emotions. It’s not perfect, nor does it claim to be. And after all, isn’t that what art is all about?