Survive - Survive (Vinyl LP)

We got a few copies of this band’s excellent debut single a few months ago and those flew out so I’ve been looking forward to hearing this LP from Austin analogue synth quartet Survive, part of the burgeoning synth scene in that city along with the likes of Neon Indian and Sleep[infinity sign]Over. They seem to specialise in mid-paced soundtracky melodic pieces with a bit of a techno influence but tempered with big, anthemic and largely rock-structured tunes.

The LP opens with ‘Deserted Skies’, with lots of rumbly drifting washes of synth, before metronomic head-nodder ‘Floating Cube’ brings the first big tune of the LP with insistent, pulsing melodies and clinical drum machine beats. These guys really have a knack for subtle, steadily-paced Carpenteresque melodies with brooding Blade Runner-ish undertones but also uplifting melodies, and the synth band format they’re rocking comes across like a cross between Egyptology’s steady melodic cool and Apparat Organ Quartet’s unabashed synth-rockout jams, but with something unmistakeably ‘80s, like it’s haunted by the spirit of Giorgio Moroder (in fact the B side of the 7” we had in by them, ‘Part Tiger’, has an all-out synth freakout towards the end which reminds me of Moroder’s underappreciated solo at the end of ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ and should’ve been on the LP really).

On this full-length they’re better able to stretch out and explore the langorous possibilities of slowing things down, though, and to wonderful effect. There’s a few droney, muddied interludes, and when they do get melodic it’s all about the pure ‘80s synth tones and blown out grooves, gently propelling you through the day and maybe tricking you that your life is in fact a magnificent sci-fi epic and not the humdrum parade of bullshit it really is.