There is nothing like a good retro-synth band to make you feel like you are starring in ’80s television series about humanity’s last chance at survival in a city-sized geodesic dome in space. Gunship’s self-titled debut is exactly that, each track a new vignette/gaiden about our own retrofuturistic demise. In BLOOD + CHROME‘s album preview video above, you get a good sense of exactly the dusty VHS-sheen the band is going for as they reference major ’80s touchstones, one at a time (Knightrider, Terminator, The Breakfast Club, and Transformers among them). I highly recommend watching it all the way through before diving in below.
Much like contemporary’s College, Kavinsky, or Digitalism, Gunship have a deliberately nostalgic glow about them that would have made them a perfect fit for the Drive soundtrack. Put on “Tech Noir” and just try to tell me otherwise. After a sampled post-apocalyptic soliloquy that begins “I’m recording this because this could be the last thing I’ll ever say,” forlorn synths burn like a dying pulsar until the bright explosion of the chorus. Perhaps the eeriest song on this gorgeous 13-track debut, however, is Carpenter Brut’s remix of the aforementioned song, which takes the original vocal layers and adds much more metallic, coarse instrumentation.
Since brought to our attention, Gunship’s record has been on repeat at the Nerdist offices, and it is because it is the perfect coalescence of everything I and the rest of our editorial team love: retrofuturism, ’80s references, synthy jams, and way more. Hope you guys enjoy, and be sure to let us know your favorite track(s) in the comments below. Close your eyes, and maybe we’ll cross paths in clunky spaceships somewhere past our galaxy.
