It's quite a rare and high praised statement to say that an artist reminds me of The Human League not just because of the immense gravity of what a legendary act that band was but also because it is one of the first ever artists I can remember hearing as a child so it has far more gravitas to me in that respect; So it's not something I would ever say lightly.
Yet in the first few opening lines of this single, that's all that is going through my head.. Jay has brought Vintage Human League emotional story telling in to modern day synthwave production.
The Grendel remix only adds further to that aspect of wanting to bob along happily to a modern song that sounds like a real vintage classic. It's quite an emotionally complex package to unwrap in my head and even more so for it being an unexpected blindsider.
Not as unexpected however as to have the Tactical Sekt remix continuing to deepen the synthwave and retro chill vibes rather than mixing in the more aggressive side of industrial stuff that they are known for.
The video and lyrics take us on a journey of a stalker's obsession with a Goth girl and it is a story that is sadly, probably quite relatable for a lot of people in either experience or genuine concern in modern society.
Quite an impressive second release from J:Dead who is no doubt going to hit us with an incredible debut album at some point if he continues with this high performance work. Being a 'single' song release I won't review it in my usual fashion but I give it..
7 / 10
J:dead is the solo project from Jay Taylor, live drummer of EBM/Synthpop bands such as Tactical Sekt, Tyske Ludder and Harmjoy. For the last 16 years Jay has frequented many stages across the world performing in his own signature style of aggressive, hard hitting acoustic noise to the forefront of electronic acts. Now, with the creation of J:dead, there is an opportunity to show his ability in developing music which is at the core and drive behind his musical ambitions.
J:dead is whatever it needs to be: without labels, stereotypes, scene driven boxes or goals other than to inspire others. J:dead’s ambition is to make others feel alive by listening and feeling the creation of someone losing themselves.
J:dead provides emotional and lyric driven tracks with a dark synthpop vibe, inspired by a range of artists and genres.
J:dead announced signing to Infacted Recordings in Nov 2020 alongside the release of their next single Feeding on me on 19th Dec. The single release will also include remixes from Grendel and Tactical Sekt, two acts which are close to the heart of Jay, as they were the first acts he played in (Tactical Sekt) and alongside (Grendel) when he first started playing live shows.
J:dead will release their first full length album via Infacted Recordings in early 2021, which hosts 11 original songs. The physical release will also hold 4 additional remixes (2 being those mentioned above) as bonus tracks.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdeadband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdeadband/
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