A Night Walk: New Synth Pop, Alt Pop + Electronic Music We Loved
Welcome to A Night Walk in The Underground Forest - a series where I hand-select new synth pop, alt pop, electronic, and alternative music I love.
Featuring CASANDRA, Spacemoth, Soft Vein, Sibille Attar, Gabrielle Ornate, Orlando Avalon, Sun Atoms, Thunder-Bae, Adieu Dolorès, Aki Oke, Sha Ray & DJ Haram.
This edition features: a song that sounds like it was a huge hit in a sprawling 1980s metropolis from another dimension, a song with a music video that looks like it is from the pages of a 1970s craft book, a song that features glittering, shimmering clouds of sound bursting over the trap beat, one of the best house songs you have heard in a long time, a remix that has the industrial darkness of the worlds of ‘Blade’ and ‘The Matrix’, a song that is an explosion of 1980s cloudy synth pop, a remix that reminded me both of Nero and the all-consuming walls of sound from Deadmau5; and more!
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A Night Walk in The Underground Forest 🌙 Synth Pop • Electronic Pop • Alt Pop & Electronic
Soft Vein - All We’ve Known of Heaven
This is so heavenly and dreamy that it actually hurts.
This sounds like it was a huge hit in a sprawling 1980s metropolis from another dimension; the corporate chic crowd listening to this on their Walkmans while walking into the glittering Gotham of the city on a Friday night. There is a deep melancholy here, something in the vocals that signals crushing anonymity, this being made all the more striking by their contrast to the perky synth-pop bassline.
“We are asking the questions, we are lying to get by
We are lying on our backs, wondering about the sky
We are blind when it suits us, we still hear the noise
Are these delusions of our making? Is this the illusion of choice?”
and
“I have all that I want, I have nothing I need
It is killing you, it is killing me
I have all that I want, I have nothing I need
It is killing me”
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Spacemoth - Flower Memory
The internet currently feels simultaneously like a wasteland and a slop machine, underneath which anything of quality gets buried or goes to die, two things that are detrimental to the lifeforce of art and what the internet used to be.
Despite these harsh conditions, art is still thriving, and creativity might, in fact, be at an all-time high. I am reminded of this when I encounter songs and visuals like ‘Flower Memory’.
I love the huge paper flowers and the foil backdrop in the music video for this - the whole thing looking like it is from the pages of a 1970s craft book. The vocals have a dreamy Tame Impala quality to them, the synth in the background possessing a touch of Mort Garson’s ‘Mother Earth’s Plantasia.’ This is an utterly magical experience.
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CASANDRA - HOURGLASS
Photo Credit: Andrey Nikolaev
I remember coming across Raveena’s music for the first time on a cold Winter’s evening here in Ireland. The first song I listened to was ‘Tweety’ and I was blown away by the floral gardenia Y2K style visuals of her sonic world.
I get this vibe from CASANDRA’s music, ‘HOURGLASS’ being a chill paradise-like R&B track; with something to it that reminds me slightly of Rosalia. The vocal melody brought to mind Ariana Grande’s 2018 album ‘Sweetener’ (her best album in my opinion).
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Thunder Bae - CRYSTAL BALL
This is taken from the artist's new album ‘A WOMAN’ which was written and produced by the artist, with co-production by Etienne Bare.
This song was a favourite of mine from the album; perhaps as a result of the opening reminding me of t.A.T.u’s ‘All The Things She Said’. ‘CRYSTAL BALL’ comes to your ears on a mystical, shimmering fog; glittering clouds of sound burst over the trap beat, all flowing towards the most heavenly, ethereal chorus I have heard in a while. For some reason, I picture this being performed at midnight in a warehouse in mid-00s NYC.
On the album, the artist shares, "I don't think in genres. I don't think anyone really does. When we feel something, it moves us—either inside or physically."
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Aki Oke - C'MON
I spotted this on YouTube under the title ‘lets forget we're getting older.’
I didn’t really know what to expect, but what awaited me was honestly one of the best house songs I have heard in a long, long, long time.
A beat that sounds like it is from a Roland TR-8S drum machine, a euphoric string section, piano house chords, all laced with a vocal melody so enticing you will be unable to turn it off. There is something about this that gave me hope.
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Adieu Dolorès - Diva!
Cover photo by Bill Georgoussis + Cover drawings by Lucile Littot [via Bandcamp]
The ornate visuals for this caught my eye on Bandcamp, as there was a quality to them that reminded me slightly of Confidence Man; camp, delivering high art but not taking it all so self-seriously.
‘Diva!’ is a two-track feature that celebrates artist Leonor Fini, “Blending elements of fantasy, echoes of Balzac's "The Wild Ass's Skin" ("La Peau de chagrin", 1831), and pure surrealist reverie, Diva unleashes a cat-woman as mesmerizing as she is deadly. Escaping from one of the iconic paintings housed at the Musée d'Orsay, she wanders through a dreamlike Paris reminiscent of Rivette's "Céline and Julie Go Boating" (1974), hunting for her next soul to devour.” [via Bandcamp].
The opening synths of ‘Diva!’ are like pearls, floating over a synth-pop beat, with utterly hypnotizing vocals. There was something about the crystalline glamour of the second track ‘Leonor’ that reminded me of the 2025 movie ‘The Ugly Stepsister’ (a film that has some of the most divine and horrifying visuals I have seen in a long time).
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Narco Polo (feat. Isaac Brock) (JunN RemiX) | Sun Atoms
Photo by Brady Tucson
This is taken from the two-track remix release of their song ‘Narco Polo’ to celebrate their summer tour dates supporting Modest Mouse. The JunN remix has the industrial darkness of the worlds of ‘Blade’ and ‘The Matrix’, making it sound like it takes place in a night-time subterranean concrete world.
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Gabrielle Ornate - SUN AND MOON (Orlando Avalon Remix)
This is insanely good - the soundscape reminded me both of Nero and the all-consuming walls of sound from Deadmau5; the bassline made me think of Grimes’ collaboration with i_o ‘Violence’ (one of her best releases ever, alongside ‘Venus Flytrap’). This would sound unbelievable performed live.
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Connect with Orlando Avalon
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Sibille Attar - Slow Down
This is an explosion of 1980s cloudy synth pop. The vocals are huge, lingering like trails of dust in the halls of the past. The lyrics are like a salve if you have been working yourself to the brink:
Slow down
Slow down baby
You’ve been working too hard lately
Watch the sky
Treat you gently
It’ll all calm down eventually
This is a song to take a break to, go for a walk, and breathe in the azure blue skies.
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Sha Ray & DJ Haram - Champagne and Bouquets
This is taken from the album ‘Critical Thot’; ‘Champagne and Bouquets’ sounds like it was made by sampling diamonds and crystal glasses. The flow is incredible; this is 10,000 percent better than anything in the Billboard top 10 at the moment.
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Connect with sha ray
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About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
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