The Love Asylum - Electronica

The Love Asylum

Electronica
self-released; 2022

3.8 out of 5

By Dan Weston

Over the last ten years The love asylum have been the songwriters, singer and keyboard player for The Grenadiers a band playing ‘60s inspired modern indie music. Recently the members Kevin and David have returned to their roots and reignited their passion for ’80s music. This has resulted in The love Asylums debut album Electronica.

They mention their main ’80s influences are Soft Cell, Yazoo, Erasure and ABC although there are plenty of others as well. I could definitely pick up on that without having read it and I think fans of those bands will as well.

The first is “Losing my mind.” You are greeted with a 4/4 beat, bass and arpeggiated synths. The ’80s vibes are apparent right off the bat and once the verse hits as well it’s even more evident. Like a lot of songs from this era the hook pops. The first song is solid but even better was the second song “Here she comes.” This song reminded me of the band INXS that I absolutely loved when I was a kid. The songs has a sense of mystery and adventure to it. I really liked how smooth the vocals sounded against the guitar work.

“I won't let you go” is more of a ballad in a lot of ways. Something about this song brought me back to middle school. In particular I was thinking about an awkward middle school. It’s a bit saccharine and sentimental. 

“Don’t go hating yourself” is not only great advice but also one of the highlights on the album. The song has a classic octave funky bass progression you heard all the time in this genre. There’s a good amount of energy but it also sounds really smooth because of the vocals and pads.

I loved the groove on “Start” which keeps the energy kinetic but also smooth like on “Don’t go hating yourself.” They keep the hits and grooves coming with “Moon Dancing” and “Call Me.” I have to admit “Kiss of the vampire” made me laugh. It’s a cool song but I couldn't help but think of the scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall when Jason Segal is doing his Vampire play.

The closer “Time” is a bit of an anomaly. This was one of my favorite songs but had much more of a ’50s type quality to the music. The vocals were fantastic on this song. I’m not sure it fit in the album but I liked it.

​To state the obvious I think fans of ’80s synth pop will love this. The band is talented and this was a fun album from beginning to end.

linktree

Tweet