I do dig dance music, but there needs to be a human core under the techno grooves and vocoder narratives. When it’s strictly there to give you a beat to shake what the Lord gave ya I find it too empty to care about. There needs to be emotional intent. It’s like those trunk rattler CDs they used to sell back in the day for those cats that drove around with a PA system in the backseat of their 1985 Pontiac Sunfire. It’s only goal was to cause Tinnitus in the car’s owner and annoy neighbors a mile and a half away. I want some emotional ebbs and flows with my dance music. Flatliner has it, and in spades. “The Light Behind Your Eyes” punches all the buttons, and them some.
There’s a truly cinematic vibe to the dance floor rhythms of Flatliner’s new single “The Light Behind Your Eyes”, which is part of Holodeck Records recent singles series. Melancholy melodies, somber robotic vocals, and a pulse-pounding, urgent heartbeat of a rhythm carry the song along like some doomed romantic neo-futuristic score.
The Austin synth duo, which consists of Adam Fangsrud and Jesse Strait, build sonic worlds with vintage analog gear. Being hardware enthusiasts Flatliner make music the old fashioned way, they sequence it. The result is electronic music with a human touch. An emotional core that lies at the center of these hard-driving dance tracks, and in-particular “The Light Behind Your Eyes”.
According to Holodeck Records:
Strait and Fangsrud met in 2010 when they both joined a local collective of gear enthusiasts and attended a gathering to build and trade new custom synth modules. With a mutual background of formal music education, the fresh and burgeoning landscape of synthesizer craftsmanship offered a welcome merger with their extensive experience in production and composition. Their friendship soon developed into studio collaborations where designing tones and intricately interfacing their vast collective assortment of instruments became the basis for a new method of song writing. As Strait and Fangsrud developed their own musical identity, the live music scene around them saw the arrival of a fresh wave of synth-based live acts like S U R V I V E, SSLEEPERHOLD, and Xander Harris. This sea change created the perfect climate for the pair to turn their studio efforts into a realized project.
Flatliner’s “The Light Behind Your Eyes” is available now. Listen to it below, and download it over at Holodeck Records.
Complex Distractions 