Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
As the fourth quarter of 2024 opens its chilly arms and we are embraced by the spooky and grim segment of the year, what better music than experimental gothy sounds to set the energy? The music of A Place to Bury Strangers reminds me of post-punk outfit Joy Division and the early shoegaze greats, but also of being a teenager at DIY shows, of early Ty Segall, of the first Bass Drum of Death record; there is a jolt of novelty running through its veins. And this self-proclaimed loudest band in the world has returned with a new project: Synthesizer, out last week on Dedstrange records.
The band has a history of intense and apparently out-of-the-box creative decisions, famously having filmed a music video entirely on the Hipstamatic iPhone app. (Last week they posted, “How high can you throw your guitar?” accompanied with photos certain to strike pain in the heart of anyone who has paid good money for an instrument.) Furthering their forays into the experimental and unusual, the physical cover on the Synthesizer record is also an instrument, a rudimentary synthesizer that listeners can use to supposedly play or make their own music.
This seems to me a curious decision. The vinyl record costs $49 to purchase on their merch site, and presumably most of the people who listen to this record will stream it, unable to access the physical synthesizer. If the aim was truly to create a truly accessible synthesizer for the people, why not make a pocket synthesizer, or even simply new MIDI synthesizer software? They’re already free on Garageband, which Alex G famously used, and can be pirated, as Deadmau5 and others did. If the aim was to create a high-brow gimmick, it appears to have succeeded.
This is to say nothing of the music, which is excellent. Their trademark blend of shoegaze and post-punk is at its best in Synthesizer, full of lo-fi distortion and screeching guitars that are present without being, for the most part, too abrasive. A Place to Bury Strangers reasserts their virtuosity in both genres; “It’s Too Much” leans into straight shoegaze, with breakbeats and moaning guitar lines, and the record snaps back to synthy punk rock with “Plastic Future,” dashing drums sounding like a racing heartbeat.
There is an addictive quality to the thick and sludgy bass of “Bad Idea,” and the spooky and atmospheric “Fear of Transformation,” punctuated with sudden thundery jolts of sound. The upbeat and synth-inflected “You Got Me,” hot off the heels of an electrifying and spooky music video, is one of the more accessible songs of the record, and one of the best songs to come out this year–perfect music for racing around the Berlin metro at night, for chasing or being chased.
The record carries an almost adolescent intensity, present immediately from its fiery and electrifying opener “Disgust,” and present yet blunted on the record’s stunning closer “Comfort Never Comes.” Striking a more reflective note, the seven-minute song balloons into a post-punk hymn, if such a thing exists. Much like the rest of the album, it makes your heart beat in time.
There is a core of greatness to Synthesizer, which inclines me to forgive the guitar throwing, the weaker results of their experimenting, the frank silliness of their novelty-seeking. The mean streak of talent that has distinguished A Place to Bury Strangers continues unabated. Vicious and vivid, they continue to dominate the loudest corner of the music world, reminding us why we fell in love with rock music.
Disappointing / Average / Good / Great / Phenomenal
Synthesizer is out now.
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Elizabeth Piasecki Phelan | @ONEFEIISWOOP
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