The Lost Years (The Strike)

It's easy to feel like synthwave is torn between feeling modern and feeling distinctly '80s styled. Whilst "The Lost Years" most assuredly sits in the latter, it's difficult to say whether this acts as a homage, a reimagining, a stylistic mimic, or something else entirely. 

The Strike, off the back of a couple of hit singles and a popularity boom in their style of work, release this LP as a forgotten dream of youth, cast away to be viewed as escapism by rose-tinted lenses. I must admit, the trio hit their mark rather impressively, with bright synth runs and powerful snares. It's the vocal that dominates the soundscape though, a smooth voice that carries with it the contagiousness of a thousand loves; the shadow of experience framing the carefree innocence the frontman and vocalist Crabb so effortlessly conveys. The lyricism is nothing to scoff at, but the hooks are most definitely to sing for. And though it stays out of the limelight, perhaps the true hero is the instrumentation. The irresistable riffs of the guitar, the evocative howls of the saxophone, the true stars of the show. The appeal of "The Lost Years" as a consistently multi-instrumental take on traditional synthpop is undoubtedly very strong. That being said, it's not without holes in its armour. The characterisation present is quite emotively vulnerable, but equally as much, quite repetitive. In terms of theme, "The Lost Years" is a little homogenous in a sea of synthpop that wishes to appeal to innocence and nostalgia, and it doesn't particularly fare well within itself either. Many cuts can be drowned out by their surrounding tracks, and whilst some of the funkier instrumentation helps to highlight certain songs, the lack of it in others quickly turns them into sweet nothings. "The Lost Years" mainly struggles with memorability, a problem that it would inevitably run into, having similar motifs and the same vocal across the whole record - but a problem it fails to sufficiently address. Often it is a track's flaw that makes it memorable, in some backwards fashion, and though one could argue this is reminiscient of the flawed human The Strike attempt to model, I would argue that that argument is quite possibly a stretch. These tracks are "the soundtrack of everyday life", as Crabb states, and every so often the soundtrack tends towards repeating itself.

Yet it is not worth being overly critical about "The Lost Years". It is, intrinsically, a painless album built to alleviate pain, and in that, it finds success. Optimistic, emotional, undeniably infectious, I just cannot fault the model The Strike have built for this record - and perhaps that's my soft spot for synthpop/synthwave with a similar flair to this coming through - but I can fault the tracklist.