It seems talent is harder to come by these days, but there are some – a select few – that preserve the taste of that long gone time. Acts in the industry today who truly carry the 80s torch.
Nick Raven is bringing back the 80s with his delicate appreciation for synths and dreamy guitar melodies.
Through research and my earth shattering love for 80s culture and music in general, I’ve slowly started to hear more and more retro material made for the 80s obsessed music listener like myself.
New Zealand born musician Nick Raven has released his new single Nineteen Fifty Three. The song draws its inspiration from the decade that opened with a bang in the form of both natural and man-made disasters, including the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the assassination of John Lennon. But musically it draws inspiration from the eighties with melodic synth lines and snappy drum beats.
Nineteen Fifty Three combines glistening post-punk and nocturnal alternative-pop for an enthralling effect. Although it doesn’t sound all that similar to it, the repeating guitar progression and its tone throughout – combined with a sort of captivating ethereal spacey- ness – reminds me favourably of The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1979. Anything that reminds me of the Smashing Pumpkins is something I’ll take easily.
In the most comprehensive terms, Raven’s music is reminiscent of the 1980s where beats downplay the vocals. The sound sources used in the mosaic tracks here range from what sounds like children’s-movie traffic noise to solar flares from a plastic sun. There’s a beautiful human soul singing in the track. Pretty much throughout there is a startling range of imagination with progressive sounds that are constantly clipped, looped, and folded in on themselves.
Nick Raven is clearly a very talented songwriter; I’m looking forward to whatever he comes out with next.
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