Silk Flowers: "Flash of Light"

The problem with many “chillwave” artists is how they miss the point of their Daft Punkish synth hits: to sound really fucking good and overwhelming, a syringe of nasty pop right in your jugular. Instead, you get shit decroded down to Ariel Pink wavelengths, and, well, blah. Simple music’s gotta have some oomph.

Silk Flowers isn’t exactly chill enough to ride that wave, but by hearkening back to the creepy old days of Suicide and druggy dudes who sounded like Iggy or Ian, they demonstrate how one makes effective lo-fi synth music. Primarily: repetition is your friend, as are ’80s drums, and if you’re going to sing, sing. Mumbling over tinny synths is embarrassing for everyone on the internet, not just you. “Flash of Light” isn’t as visceral, naturally, as the endless analog brain-bashing of the good old industrial stuff, but by squeezing it into a two minute almost-pop song, they give the whole thing a new perspective. The subtle synth harmonies and drum variations (and not quite on-key vocals) keep it interesting, and it’s done before you know what hit you. Good job—hopefully the next round of crusty keyboard players do their homework too.