Electronic composers Heiko Maile and Julian Demarre have been working together on and off for the best part of thirty years, but mainly in the world of film scores.
Finally the duo has decided to release Neostalgia, their ultimate paean to the classic era of electronic music. Uncovering rare Japanese keyboards from the seventies and dipping into ideas that fondly remember Bebe and Louis Barron and Tangerine Dream in equal measure, but also inject elements of tension, recalling the likes of S U R V I V E in the end result, some of which wouldn’t be out of place on the Stranger Things soundtrack.
Although recorded in the last few years, starting around the time of the pandemic, and with the pair in different parts of the world, Neostalgia is a cohesive whole but one with an immediately recognisable sound; the drifting comfort of opener “Patience” with its glissando synth slides feels removed from the current malaise.
The recent excitement around Stranger Things and all things ’80s and synthy has worked well for certain artists, and although these guys have been working with these sort of sounds for a long time, it still feels part of a swell. The sense of intrigue, the background tension; Heiko Maile and Julian Demarre certainly know how to build an atmosphere, but they also know about constructing a piece that works musically and the symphonic sentiments of “Melancholia”, with its array of synths working on all levels, is quite the triumph.
-Mr Olivetti-
