I remember the ’80s, probably clearer than where I just left my keys (they were JUST here). The fashion, the excess, the sex, the drugs and of course the music. A touchstone of my time during the tumultuous decade was the movies of John Hughes and the soundtracks to come from those tellings of teen angst and bitterness. No film better captures this era than Pretty in Pink, a Cinderella story featuring a guy named Duckie, Molly Ringwald as a poor indie girl, a cameo by the Rave-Ups and a creepy James Spader (which, let’s be honest, is all James Spader does).
It’s also the greatest soundtrack ever.
The Psychedelic Furs share space with The Smiths, INXS, OMD and Echo & the Bunnymen. It is everything an ’80s soundtrack should be. Turns out is has some company, albeit 25 years too late.
If ever an album sounded like a soundtrack looking for an ’80s movie to front, it is Dark Days, the latest effort by Cygnets. A wall of synths with overt homages to Depeche Mode, Joy Division and New Order, Dark Days is a throwback album of grand proportions (checking in at 57 minutes) where the Edmonton trio decided to revel in the synthesizer arts of the Me Decade.
Even the album’s name sounds like a perfect teen movie, with the song titles (“Teenager,” “Dark Romantic,” “Regression,” “We Will Become Enemies”) making excellent fodder for various scenes. There are two songs named after women (“Sarah Smith,” “Cassie Ainsworth”) and another for a man (“Richey Edwards Traces”) – the band is giving you the name of its cast. And if the music is any indication how the movie would fare this much is certain – it will be catchy as hell if not a bit redundant.
Opener “Victoria’s Song” is the perfect intro, 40 seconds of moody blips and pings give way to a poppy synth line that would make Martin Gore jealous. Lead singer/bassist Logan Turner sings with a faux British accent prime for the music he fronts, repeating words with purpose – I swear he says “England” 1,257 times in the song.
“Teenager” comes next (an ’80s soundtrack with a song called Teenager, I can’t stand the congruity) – a racing drum beat meets the Sparks-like attitude, with Turner spitting out gross overviews of teen life: “You met a boy, you took some pills and drank too much,” he muses. “You’re a teenager.” Here too Turner rides the redundant train, asking “Are you still in the void?” for what seems like forever (this is used again later in “Richey Edwards Traces” when the phrase “touching you, touching me” is on repeat, reminiscent of Placebo’s “Every You Every Me,” which happens to be in the teen movie Cruel Intentions. Coincidence?).
“Sarah Smith” speaks of sexual frustration amid the soothing coos and splashing cymbals. “I must have seen you ten times lately flirting with me unmistakably. Now you cannot even face me,” Turner sings, adding, “I fear I’m wide-awake in this conversation. Fuck me, Sarah. Fuck me, Sarah.” You’d watch that scene, would you not?
This segues nicely into “We Will Become Enemies” a song whose message belies the bright chords that dance about it. “Rx Victims” is the band at its best, as one of the shortest songs shows promise of a band who can live outside the 1980s but still reference it in a meaningful way.
It does become tiresome near the end – a hour of synths and ’80s nostalgia gets old after 35 minutes. The last two songs – “Dread City” and “Regression” are 10 minutes of music the album could do without.
As a child of the ’80s, I’m hesitant to embrace a band that embraces the decade with such aplomb, but I have to give Cygnets some credit. It didn’t try to play this off as an homage – these guys literally went back in time, setting the DeLorean back to 1985 with significant success. As Doc would ask “Do you have no concept of time?” The band’s answer: No, none at all.
