Synthwave Sunday: Espectrostatic, The Silhouette

Perhaps deeming Espectrostatic synthwave isn’t accurate, as Espectrostatic, the solo project of the Hex Dispeners’ Alex Cuervo, do not play the kind of danceable techno-pop that would make a good soundtrack to Moonbeam City. Instead, Espectrostatic makes brooding atmospheric music that acts purely as the soundtrack to an ’80s horror franchise that never was.

That said, man, Cuervo is damn good at what he does. If you want your electronic music cinematic and super, super spooky, then this stuff is for you. There’s a lot of movement to every song, the scene its meant to soundtrack playing out behind the listener’s eyes (track titles reflect this, with “She Hunts Them In The Afterlife” and “The Haunted Doll Factory” among some of the band’s past song names).

The band’s most recent release is The Silhouette, which dropped this June. The album definitely goes more ominous and shadowy than its predecessor, the madcap and almost cartoonish Escape from Witchtropolis. That said, there are still some awesome walkin’-around songs on here, like “Dead End City”, the title track, and “The Modern Curse”, which will make you feel like the duster-clad anti-hero of your own ghost-choked life.

Listen to The Silhouette below, and buy it via Espectrostatic’s Bandcamp.