This artists musical journey has seen him cross many landscapes to where he is today. A scene stalwart he carved a place for himself on the neon map way back before it was deemed cool. Hailing from Canada and amidst the stunning cyberpunk backdrop of Toronto at night, XYLE (pronounced EXILE,ˈekˌsīl) has produced 5 albums to great acclaim with most tracks featured on New Retro wave, Beyond Synth with Andy Last and other radio stations literally worldwide. All of which was done without the assistance of a Record Label or Management which astounds. Independence affords a greater freedom of expression of course but a Label offers the stability of credibility and a bigger platform which I hope for him in the future.
Following the stunning instrumental personal journey that was his last Album ‘SAGA’ the persona that is XYLE has decided to party and literally everyone’s invited. It’ll be a surprise to some that his music has switched up somewhat from the melodic synthwave sensibilities of his previous releases which may irk the purists amongst the masses but the talent of the man far outweighs the chains that bind in terms of what’s expected of him to deliver, and let’s be honest an artist who stands still falls backwards!
A new album will be bestowed upon us by Summers end most likely but until then there has been very recent Single releases in the form of ‘Dead Flamingo with B Side Cathexis’ and ‘Speed Dial’ the latter of which is just about to drop any day now.
‘Dead Flamingo’ of itself married with the Artwork is undoubtedly evocative and certainly makes a statement. Art of course is very subjective and there may be an eyebrow or two raised but having spoken to the Artist himself he has never been one for tropes and this in essence proves it. It doesn’t of course signal the end of his Synthwave Journey with this release, Oh No! Suffice to say his soul is still tethered to the sunlit docks of Synthwave as a genre but there’ll always be more than one-way home!
The track itself wouldn’t feel out of place on the 90s club circuit. It takes you by the hand and leads you through the crowds, the smoke, the lasers and commands you dance. It bounces and sizzles at a refined pace to begin with and then ups the tempo as the track draws to a close. This track will crawl into your ear cavity and squat there and I won’t be calling the metaphorical bailiffs anytime soon!
Score : 9/10
XYLE Interview is coming soon in conjunction with the new Album in the meantime you can visit his discography here: https://xyle.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0EFx5YL9jxGONVTTtICM9o
Twitter: https://twitter.com/xylemusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xylepage/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xylemusic/
#synthwave #90s #clubmusic #newalbum #retrowave #music #toronto #canada