Geographer – A Mirror Brightly: Faith isn’t blind. Was it playing you the whole time?

Artist: Geographer
Album: A Mirror Brightly
Year: 2024
Grade: B+

In Brief: Geographer’s smooth and cerebral blend of synthetic and organic pop sounds may not hid you over the head with big hooks on his new album as strongly as some of his past work has. But he still strikes a compelling balance between soothing melodic goodness, a few surprising experimental moments, and heartfelt and meaningful songwriting. To pigeonhole his music simply as “synthpop”, “indie pop”, or “dream pop” might do it a disservice, but he’s quite good at finding the boundary between the concrete and the ethereal, and poking at it with questions that need to be asked.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Bauhaus Staircase: How will you ever say goodbye?

Artist: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Album: Bauhaus Staircase
Year: 2023
Grade: B

In Brief: Whether it’s the geeky synthesized sounds that bring back warm memories of the 80s, or the smooth and emotionally weighty pop melodies that would sound good in any era, OMD manages a pretty good rundown of the various things they’ve excelled at on an album that may well be their swan song. If this is how these elder statesmen of synthpop choose to go out, then it’s a strong note to end on – a testament to their long-running legacy, and also a darn good fit for a 21st century revival of the genre that’s still going strong.

Devours – Homecoming Queen: So We’re Mainstream Now?

Artist: Devours
Album: Homecoming Queen
Year: 2023
Grade: B+

In Brief: Can synthpop be both nostalgic and cutting-edge at the same time? Can it be genuinely fun to listen to even though a lot of the lyrics are brooding and cynical? Can the musings of a 30-something gay man getting over a breakup and re-adjusting to single life in rainy Vancouver be relatable to a 40-something married straight dude in sunny L.A.? YES. Yes, it most emphatically can. Devours has made one of the year’s most engaging pop records, with song after song of intriguing ear candy that I couldn’t restrain myself from… y’know… devouring.

Pet Shop Boys – Actually: What They Did to Deserve This, Explained

Artist: Pet Shop Boys
Album: Actually
Year: 1987
Grade: A+

In Brief: I came into the Pet Shop Boys’ earliest albums expecting fun, danceable music, a bit of novelty appeal, and honestly not much more. I came out of those albums, and especially their 1987 sophomore release Actually, utterly floored by their knack for not only building sturdy pop hooks on top of all their synthetic wizardry, but also for insightful and sometimes subversive songwriting that punches the listener in the gut just as unexpectedly as it tickles their funny bone. Pay no attention to what the cheeky cover photo might imply – Actually is a thrill ride and then some.

Pet Shop Boys – Lost: Cruelty and manhood are synonymous, it seems.

Artist: Pet Shop Boys
Album: Lost EP
Year: 2023
Grade: A-

In Brief: This is a far better, and weirdly more relevant, set of songs than its origin story of being four unreleased tracks plus a demo from a 7-year-old album would lead you to believe. If this is the kind of material that didn’t make the cut for one of their studio records, then I can only imagine that this long-running synthpop duo still has plenty of wit, romance, and fire left to be unleashed in their future endeavors.

Depeche Mode – Memento Mori: Lovers in the End

Artist: Depeche Mode
Album: Memento Mori
Year: 2023
Grade: B-

In Brief: I went from being fascinated with this album’s first few singles, to being rather bored with it once I tried to take the whole thing in, to eventually going back and realizing there was more to it than I’d given it credit for. So, y’know, my usual response to most Depeche Mode albums. There’s beauty and poetry to be found in some of these solemn meditations on the end of life, but it can be hard to get over the initial impression that it’s an unrelentingly dark, dour diatribe.

Sparks – The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte: Because crying in your beer is for country songs.

Artist: Sparks
Album: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
Year: 2023
Grade: B-

In Brief: Sparks continues to cross-pollinate genres as it pleases them on this record – the synthesizers glow and crackle, the power chords are as chunky and perky as ever, and the baroque elements add a touch of class and ironic detachment all at once. They don’t care if any of this is trendy, and in that sense it’s classic Sparks. The only problem is that (as is often the case for these guys) the lyrics hover somewhere in the uncanny valley between witty social commentary, biting satire, avant-garde surrealism, and mind-numbing repetition, to the point where it’s often hard to tell if they’re trying to be funny on purpose, or when the heck they’ll get around to delivering some semblance of a punchline if they are.

Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair: These are the songs I can’t do without.

Artist: Tears for Fears
Album: Songs from the Big Chair
Year: 1985
Grade: A+

In Brief: The realization that Songs from the Big Chair was my favorite album of the entire 1980s honestly took me by surprise. It may only have eight songs, but each of them are distinctive, and each one seems to contain multitudes of information and emotion within itself. Tears for Fears hit the sweet spot here, coming up with synthetic pop music that was groundbreaking for its time and now seen as some of the most emblematic of its era, but pushing the boundaries of the genre in every way they could think of, to make sure each track made a powerful statement. Come for the nostalgia, stay for the jaw-dropping musical versatility and the soul-cleansing therapy session.

New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies: Every time you get these words wrong, I just smile.

Artist: New Order
Album: Power, Corruption & Lies
Year: 1983
Grade: A-

In Brief: The second time was the charm for New Order, who desperately needed a shot at reinvention after spinning their wheels a bit in the wake of Joy Division’s demise. A lot of the things I love the most about the brightness of 80s synthpop and the dark intensity of 80s post-punk are captured beautifully on this album, which somehow managed to be a landmark record in a banner year for 80s music in general… and that’s true even without the presence of the definitive hit single that put New Order on the map for a lot of people.

Yazoo – Upstairs at Eric’s: Taking Early 80s Synthpop to the Next Level

Artist: Yazoo (aka Yaz)
Album: Upstairs at Eric’s
Year: 1982
Grade: A-

In Brief: It’s part classic, part curiosity, and a little bit confusing. Certainly a whole lot more than I would have expected from a synthpop act in the genre’s early stages. Yazoo may have only existed for a few short years while Vince Clarke was in between other, far more long-lived bands, but their debut album captured my attention in a way I wasn’t expecting. This was the moment where my exploration of early 80s electronic music went from, “Hmmm, this is interesting for mostly historical reasons” to “YES, this is EXACTLY the vibe I was looking for!”