Album Review: Girls In Synthesis – Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future

Girls In Synthesis are set to release their debut album “Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future” on August 28th via Harbinger Sound, their long awaited full length follows in the wake of a steady stream of singles, that were collected together on the “Pre/Post: A Collection” album. The London based trio originally planned to release their debut album back in May, but the coronavirus took hold and the band had to make the difficult decision to delay the release. Right now the world seems to be getting darker and there’s no end in sight to current pandemic, so maybe now is exactly the right time to release their dystopian sonic assault upon the world, and it’s hard to disagree with this decision as this ferocious slab of raging post-punk is exactly the kind of sonic cleansing the world needs right now.

‘Arterial Movements‘ opens “Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future” with a dark and barbed bass driven slab of post punk, ‘Pressure‘ and ‘The Images Agree‘, two of the trio of singles from the album, follow in it’s wake and keep the energy levels firmly in the red. ‘Scrapped‘ brings a taught claustrophobic element to bear before ‘Human Frailty‘ crashes into you with an intense slow stamp, one that is overlaid with with an intense monologue that slowly descends into madness. “Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future” continues to take no prisoners, the most recent single ‘They’re Not Listening‘ burns through the political rhetoric and voices the frustration at current UK government and opposition to the far right. The raging ‘Cause For Concern‘ is the closest you’ll come to a straight up punk blast on this release, before ‘Coming up For Air‘ and ‘Set Up To Fail‘ takes you back into that intense claustrophobic bubble, finally ‘Tirades Of Hate And Fear‘ shoots the adrenaline back up for the albums final moment before all too soon it’s over.

Since forming in late 2016, Girls In Synthesis have quickly forged a fearsome reputation as one of the most exciting and volatile live acts in the UK, including from one or two of The Punk Site‘s own who have been championing the band from the start, maybe I should start listening to them. Everything I’ve heard recanted about how intense and impressive Girls In Synthesis are live is present on the debut album. “Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future” is equal parts frantic, considered, ear-splitting, defiant and melodic. Girls In Synthesis keep every element in house, from the music, to the packaging to the videos, everything is DIY, this is the band’s own vision, pure and unadulterated, and what you get is their an onslaught of heavy, bludgeoning, dark and above all furious post-punk that you really do need in your life.

“Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future” keeps the torch aflame for the original spirit of the post punk scene, there are echoes of the bands that took a dark turn after punks initial burst of energy, but this is no anachronism, everything from the roots of post punk through the likes of The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and the early recordings by The Horrors and on into the real life dystopia of 2020, this is the soundtrack to the strangest year in living memory, dark, claustrophobic, jagged, scathing and raging. After everything this year has thrown at us this album sounds like it’s crawling the walls and gouging scars in the plaster with it’s fingernails, straining to escape the social isolation and the political car crash that is going on in the UK, and sadly pretty much everywhere else. When you consider that this album was recorded prior to lockdown you start to wonder whether this is a band that knew what was coming, or they just assumed that things weren’t going to get any better, either way this is one of the best and most relevant albums you’ll hear this year.

You can pre order “Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future” here