Comparisons aside, Xeno and Oaklander are undoubtedly one of the most exciting synth wave duos around. Their performances are energy packed and a dream for any synth freak.
[Purchase] Wierd Records are interested in contemporary synth wave, minimal pop and neo-shoegaze. This focus on the present does not mean that a bit of a re-issue is out of the question. Xeno And Oaklander are pioneers of the synth wave resurgence, but their debut album was released some years back on very limited CD runs. Wierd have taken this 2006 album and given it the full vinyl treatment, Vigils.
The cold and strained notes of “The Introduction” breathes life into the album, and could easily be dubbed one of the forerunners of the now burgeoning NYC synth love affair. The sounds of this husband wife duo are certainly vintage, yet retrospective and clean. The tempo of the album is fast, with whisper like snares flickering against broad chords and the multilingual Wendelbo. The disenfranchised notes of the early wave scene course throughout, as in the haunting “Blue Flowers.” The musical compositions are achingly simple, memorable and unnerving. Chords detach themselves from the listener, crouching beneath analogue stabs, shimmering snares and Wendelbo’s quivering larynx. “Vigils” is a powerful lament, building vocals into chords with both ascending together in their despair. In classic synth pop form this track is disaffected and undeniably catchy. This seems to be X&O’s gift, to invite the listener and alienate them; arguable the synth wave formula. MacBride rarely offers up his own voice on the album, focusing on the hardware. But, for “Two Eyes” the synth virtuoso has craned across his modular banks to pour forth his own desperate pleas. “Cold Forever” brings MacBride and Wendelbo vocally together, the track split across two languages. A superbly bleak piece of synth wave is the result, uplifting in its ashen visage to see out this debut album.
Vigils may be some five years old, but the material sounds as fresh as ever. Xeno and Oaklander have pulled together an array of 80’s synth groups to produce their sound, yet it is difficult to throw up a straight swap. There’s a Linear Movement note in here, and some Belgian wave throughout. Yet the pace recalls Experimental Products and the distanced vocals John Foxx. But comparisons aside, Xeno and Oaklander are undoubtedly one of the most exciting synth wave duos around. Their performances are energy packed and a dream for any synth freak. They have inspired others to pick up an analogue box and have a go at being a Korg punk. X&O are not 80’s synth pastiche, but modern artists continuing the wave experiment.
Vigils is out now on Wierd. [Purchase]
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1694852″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=000000″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
