A hooky and atmospheric synth-pop grip takes hold throughout Open Your Eyes, the new album from Me & Melancholy. The Stockholm-based project of musician and producer Peter Ehrling takes inspiration from ’80s synth-pop and new-wave artists, like Depeche Mode and New Order, in addition to more recent rock/alternative acts — resulting in a sound that’s both familiarly inviting and infectiously creative. Open Your Eyes primarily touts a darkly enveloping synth-led appeal, embracing moody soundscapes while simultaneously emitting brisk rhythmic pulses and expressive vocal layers.
The album’s opening title track quickly showcases a tendency for absorbing, nostalgic electronic atmospherics and hooky structural arrivals. The flashing vocal-like synth effects are delightfully reminiscent of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence,” though with a lusher radiance here. The title-touting arrival, at the one-minute mark, is bolstered wonderfully by glistening synths and an emotive vocal rise. Another success, “Naive” stirs with a more invigorated arp-ready momentum — culminating in a questioning “can you handle this for real?” ferocity within its memorable central hook; its lyrics also are impactful, described by Ehrling as “emphasising the struggle of holding onto what feels real in the face of change and truth.”
A haunting disposition also compels on “A quiet place in the dark,” where an added backing vocal presence during the “…growing inside me,” ruminations meld with ghostly electronic arps and a striving “to be on my own.” It’s one of many standouts throughout Open Your Eyes, an album full of quality songwriting and sincere emotion from Me & Melancholy.
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“Naive” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
