Dream Fiend: Outland | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- I am totally not buying into the metaverse (which doesn’t exist), NFTs (which are a scam) or crypto (...well I have no real money to buy pretend money). There is one synthetic obsession, however, that I can never say no to: the most sugary and euphoric extremes of synthwave always get my blood pumping. I want to live in that neon universe of power-glove toting, big-hair heroes, busting keytar solos on the backs of pixelated rainbows. Which is weird, because I’m pretty sure I wasn’t that into A-ha or Wham! when I lived through the actual ‘80s, but such is the power of nostalgia and Dream Fiend’s Jay Babinall wields it with consummate skill.

I remember the first stumbling steps the music world took towards recreating the sounds of the ‘80s, a move which only really began after the turn of the millennium, when humanity first felt far enough removed from the toxic Reganite, ultra-capitalist, plastic fakery of the original to want to selectively celebrate any part of it. It’s fair to say it started out sounding very little like the actual music of the era. However, technology, time and a great deal of attention to detail by retro-aficionados has fostered ever more accurate and loving recreations of yesterday’s synthetic pop.

Just last year, for instance, as part of the same Flash Forward series Dream Fiend's latest arrives on and which has been releasing in an endless stream on the Heavy Machinery label, Ehsan Gelsi gave us a peak at his tireless passion for celebrating the soundtrack stylings of Wendy Carlos, Vangelis and John Carpenter. Impressive stuff and with the benefit of newer hardware, software and the undying zeal of a true disciple, arguably superior to some of the originals. Probably not quite as prolific as Gelsi (because who is?) Jay Babinall has still put in the hard yards, a notable remixer, regular collaborator and member of synthpop duo Starbound with fellow synth-freak Killstarr. He’s been working the Dream Fiend moniker since 2012 and dips into that same stream of passion as Gelsi, although the treasures he finds in there are slightly different. Babinall’s specific focus, certainly on his latest album Outland, is synthwave, weaponised into anthemic pop, riven with an infectious electro-boogie / nu-disco / synth-funk -whatever you choose to call it- the legacy of the ‘70s churned through the hardware of the ‘80s and emulated again in the present day.

Outland is an expansive collection, not least because it’s been in the works for the last four-to-six years. It’s front-loaded with impressive, vox-heavy radio single material, including the now two-year-old and still wonderful Light Years. I commend to you the cheesily adorable video for that one, featuring Babinall and audio-visual collaborator James Ballard of September 87, dolled up to look like an amalgam of A-ha and Daft Punk, traveling the beaches of the universe delivering sick solos and searching for lost love. “I can see / I’ve gone a little / Crazy! / If we’re talking honestly / The thought is haunting me / I never thought she’d be / Lightyears away”; great stuff.

After the sustained fructose hit of the album’s opening half, some of the instrumentals in the body of the record seem like they’re begging out for some more crooning to finish them off, which is a bit unfair, because if you listen to them in isolation, they’re still really rather good. It’s especially unreasonable because there’s plenty of variation in there, like when Dream Fiend abandons the funk without making us regret a thing, because he immediately swaps in straight-up, Eric Carmen-style synth-rocking on the album’s title track.

As an admitted addict of this sound -seriously, inject it straight in the vein, please- you might not trust my recommendation when I say I love this record. I swear though, today’s artists are resurrecting the sounds of yesterday with ever more uncannily accurate results and they are to be treasured. Dream Fiend delivers hard and I challenge you to show me who’s doing it better.

- Chris Cobcroft.