New Synth Pop - Doll Klaw’s Thorns
Synth pop occupies a special place in the imagination of the music aficionado. It is eternal, both representative of a retro past and symbolic of an aspirational future. It enchants and haunts – think of the soundtrack featured on Stranger Things. It’s celebratory – it’s commercial peak in the 80s included the likes of Madonna and others creating upbeat, bubbly crossovers. It is sexy and mysterious – Crazy, Stupid, Love included a memorable sequence anchored by Goldfrapp’s “Ooh La La.” This brings us to Doll Klaw, who released her EP Thorns last week through Hartford’s Funnybone Records. The Los Angeles product plays with the genre, touching on an array of sounds on the synth pop spectrum. At times cheery and at others dark, Doll Klaw has created some music worth listening to.
The extended play leads off with “Vermin.” It borrows the opening synth riff from Stranger Things, and I wonder, “Does Thorns hold some hidden darkness?” If there is, you won’t find it on this track. Despite its name, “Vermin” is gentle and bright. If Alvvays was born in the 80s rather than the 2010s, they might have closely resembled Doll Klaw. After listening for about 30 seconds, I was so into it, I made a meme that I quickly realize now is terribly inaccurate, even as a representation for those opening moments. That said, I’m going to work it in anyway, probably after this paragraph.
In retrospect, I was much too eager. These are two monumentally bad comparisons.
Since the 80s, video game culture has been booming. The sounds of those games from the 80s and early 90s have become iconic. The sounds Doll Klaw assembles on “Angelica” continue the vintage pop feel, sprinkled with the dust of those iconic 16-bit sounds you’ll remember from Sega and Nintendo games. Mega Man X off of the Super Nintendo comes to mind specifically as I listened to the keyboards. The song captures the emotional boss battle of having feelings for a friend. There is the dilemma of acting on your feelings with the risk losing a friend, or maintaining the friendship and ignoring your emotions.
Raising the stakes and the drama is “Inside.” The dramatic tone makes it an anthem for anybody fighting to defy the odds, but particularly for women. The opening line “Thought I needed him but I don’t” is a feminist cry for independence. The thrust of the song however, is ultimately more broad, with the message that we all are enough, and that we all carry the strength we need inside of us. The song has the one of the most interesting compositions, with verses giving way to mini musical interludes before returning to the original unrelenting beat.
If “Inside” offered reassurances that each of us have the strength to stand on our own two feet, “You Said” is about keeping hubris in check. It touches on the unhealthy outcomes an inflated ego can carry, but it does so on one of the more simple backdrops of the album. It makes things seem so easy; when Doll Klaw says she’ll say goodbye, you believe her, and you believe it will happen at the drop of a hat, without any fanfare.
The EP meets its end with “Thorns,” a lyrically cryptic track. Once the song reaches the first verse, they have a certain… “Take My Breath Away” quality. The energy is low and waiting. Then the chorus (or what we might think of the chorus anyway) stirs the urgency that has been present throughout the entire album.
Every moment of Thorns feels pressing. Any of the songs off the project could be the theme for the most thrilling and spectacular moments of your life. Everything feels like it is hanging in the balance. It’s probably not the music you want to listen to on a lazy Sunday morning, but on your way out on the town on a Friday night… why not set the stage and raise the stakes?
Thorns is available for purchase via Doll Klaw’s BandCamp and is streaming on all major platforms.
Michael Stroneski, editor at mvsicthovght, has started several blogs and multi-media projects you’ve never seen. He is a life-long cheerleader for Connecticut and underground music. You can reach him at contact@mvsicthovght.com.