Synthwave Sunday: Lazerhawk, Dreamrider

Synthwave’s rise to prominence over the past couple of years has mostly been centered on its darker side, the stuff that goes fast, hard and heavy and gets bodies moving. Perhaps that’s just my perception coming at it from the metal side of things, but it seems that synthwave’s lighter and poppier side has gotten the short-shrift lately.

Thankfully there’re acts like Lazerhawk, who’s been going strong since 2010, to remind us how deep an emotive well there is for synthwave to mine. Dreamrider is his first release in over three years and serves as the perfect refresher that we don’t need to be shaking our tail ends with reckless abandon to Perturbator and GosT to get our retro synth vibe on. Songs like “Somnus” and “Cool Breeze” are way more delicate and wistful but no less expressive, while tracks like “Hypnic” have just enough of a driving beat for a spirited head-bob. Either way, Lazerhawk is a master songwriter that perfectly understands how to capture a specific mood and feeling with instrumental music, and that’s what’s made him such an enduring artist in an ever-crowded field.

Dreamrider came out on January 18th. Order it via Bandcamp.