by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
screensaver’s kinetic tension and relentless groove never falters. The Melbourne/Naarm based quintet have been buzzing since the release of their debut album, Expressions of Interest and last year’s propulsive single, Clean Current/Repeats., their synth punk sound expanding upon the framework of bands like ESG, The Cure, and Pylon. There’s a haunting sense to much of their music, it looms over you in a way that feel inescapable, the pressure continuously mounting, but screensaver keep the pulse moving with dance-floor ready rhythms, indebted to the 80’s sense of new wave futurism. Set to release their second full length, Decent Shapes, on October 20th via Upset The Rhythm (Water Machine, The Toads, Es) and Poison City (Leah Senior, Body Type, Michael Beach), the band’s swirling synths seem to be less shrouded in the shadows, but the music remains warped and immediate.
Lead single “The Guilt” spirals with layered synths and distorted guitar, grooving through a gloomy sort of cosmic pulse, the rhythm locked in and thriving. screensaver weave a mechanical sense of boogie into the careening dissonance. Written about the guilt that comes from the impossibility of being perfect, it’s something we can all relate to, a rally to just be the best we can be. There’s so much texture inherent in screensaver’s approach to synth-punk, as the maneuver between the cuts of widescreen guitars, otherworldly landscapes of alien synths, and Krystal Maynard’s impassioned vocals.
Speaking about the song, Maynard shared:
“Existence can be exhausting: relationships to maintain, jobs to get done, people to impress, all the while the world is falling apart around us. In the clip we’re capturing the performative nature of life, the acting and the reacting.Perfection is impossible, imperfection is human. You try your best to be everything to everyone at all times, but failure is inevitable and then the guilt arrives.”