No one can deny that series like Stranger Things helped to thrust the synthwave/retrowave genre into the mainstream. I’d become vaguely aware of the genre through a friend of the artist “Make Up & Vanity Set” and his 2011 album “Never Let Go“.
This album was actually realease digitally from a copy of a cassette tape to create all of that glorious 80s tape compression, warble and saturation that only 1/8″ tape can provide. It sounds pretty great really.
Fast forward to 2020, which in the 80’s would have sounded like the dystopian Bladerunner-esque future in which the soundtracks from said movie were written for, and in a delicious irony, sythwave emerges in the mainstream thanks to pop artists like The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights“.
All that said, that wasn’t really my inspiration for “Right Lane Turning” – bottome line I just really love a driving 8th note synth bass and the gorgeous keys sounds from the 80s.
If there was any inspiration that I can put a finger on it would be The Calls “I Still Believe (Great Design)” from the iconic ’87 movie “The Lost Boys”. I remember listening to Tim Capello’s version and loving the passionate and urgent songwriting. So I utilised the chord progression in a loose way to get the song started but from there it wrote itself in a different direction.
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Photo by Javier MartÃnez on Unsplash