Heart-on-the-sleeve synth-pop sets a dazzling rollick throughout this E.P. - danceable without raving, more of a musing sort of roll...
Local singer/songwriter Jason Revoir refines his keenness for cool, gleaming shimmies, all-shimmered-up here on his 2nd LP (multi-insrumentalist John Dion). Beatific blips, syrupy bass blushes and various other mellifluous meteorite showerers of reverb-shushed timbres and dreamy delay-spurted drums.
But beating subtly beneath the synthetic skin is warmer veins of organic elements, from acoustic guitar to live snare slams to that devastating dulcet croon rendered by Revoir - an inescapably 80's evoking voice stitched out of seminal new-wave; not an airy operatic thing like a Morrisey, but a deeper, darker melodic moan more akin to a Gahan or a Hollis.
Vibrant textures, frankly moody lyrics boomed out without any maudlin muddling or played-up melodrama. Synth pop's perceived to be precious, but Revoir's sound has a percolated charge to it, his is a big voice booming from a big frame (dude must be 6'4" at least) and these aren't your typical sappy synth fare, their much steelier, reflective yes but never muddling in the maudlin. These are songs about making a fist; indeed, exploring the ideas of being a "real man" and thereby taking "a stand."
Beyond the glitter-groovy hazed-out aesthetic of post-midnight come-down soundtracks for last call slow-dances, Revoir isn't intent on keeping everything so sleek and shiny. Some jams, like "The Best That I Can," get caught out in the rain of drone-y domains, a feedback storm starts to roil up under the 2nd chorus and bridge, hinting at a wider breadth and some noise-pop leaning proclivities.
A release show for this recording is now set for January 19 at the new Dodge with Tunde Olaniran, Ancient Language and James Linck.
You can find it here...eventually.
