This city breathes steel and spits fire.  It is a dangerous place where even the strong struggle.  But it is not without melody.  You hear its voice caught falling from the night.  Sleeping with the windows open, you feel fully aware and alive.  The highs in its bustle; the pride in its non-stop traffic; the breath in its white noise.  There is nothing like it anywhere else and, with the whine of bus brakes and the constant whirl of cars, it is truly worth saving. 

And LɅNights knows it.  Because you can’t stop/won’t stop a damn good thing and Save the City, the second release from this producing team, is worthy of countless nights in a city that never sleeps.

With a short but damn stellar beginning, “POWER” delivers the nocturnal goods.  The command in this brief song is furious and, whether it be a detective running down a suspect in 2032 or someone on the run in 2018, the picture created is clear: the tension in this fictional city is about to become LɅLIT up. 

But don’t fear, the primed vocal effects are still here, too.  The second track, “FUTURES”, gives us the EDM bridge from their first release to this one.  It is a hook-centered song in which, yes, the night ahead promises reward thanks to a vox treatment that is epic in its ability to create urgency.  Songs like this one, in which the vocal trickery gives way to a synthline that feels oh so very Robert Smith-like in its execution keeps LɅNights in a producing league that is all their own.

Serving up another round of hard-hitting retro tonics is “BE THERE”, a song that is both diverse and melodic in its mission statement to get your ass moving. Prepare to sweat, Sonny Crockett, this night isn’t going to go down easy.  Things get smoldering and cinematic again in “SHOT IN THE DɅRK”, a steely-eyed song that keeps its reverb cool as the tension grows and grows in this 8-song cycle. 

Thing is, throughout this release, that driving beat, whether wet or dry (like the concrete in this layered city) won’t let us give up on the neon in all the places we live.  Save the City is that BIG in sound.  The contrast and the kick drums are PURE in their abilities to create texture.

The night itself grows eternal with “ɅNYONE” as a lushness amplifies all the usual synthwave tropes.  The modulations are matched with a chilled composition that could be, in my mind, a melodic response to the beauty of the bioluminescent waves that hit the beaches across Southern California.  Blue waves.  Oh, yes, there will be blue, glowing waves.  And then, continuing the sense of cinematic and chill, comes “Ʌ CITY” and the metropolis steams again, leaving its mark of metal and mass.

With a sigh, “SɅTELITE” begins its trajectory across the electronic heavens of this canvas.  It is a rise that suggests an unwinding as all bets are placed on not giving up.  This uplifting song, complete with a bright neon melody and a pulsating rhythm, is the perfect hook to usher in the final song in this release, “HURRICɅNE” in which those vocal effects continue to create a depth that is filled by claps, extra percussion, and synth risers.     

LɅNights’ Save the City, their second release this year, does more than just save a city; they save us all.  Synthwave this slick and raucous ought to be celebrated with a steady stream of fireworks.  Seriously.

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