Hollywood Burns: Once Upon A Time In Synthwave
Certain types of music lend themselves to certain themes. Power metal has the right mood to channel stories of battles and fantastical quests, prog the potential to get into weird mental and magical places. Synthwave, without a doubt has the most science fiction-based roots for its story telling. No record this year has a more expansive post-apocalyptic world to really have some fun with than HOLLYWOOD BURNS‘ The Age of Saucers. We caught up with Emeric Levardon about the process of writing a sequel album, initial influences in the genre and making each song sound fresh.
There’s some great thematic story telling going in the audible world on The Age of Saucers, with the narrative flipped from the assailants’ perspective on Invaders to the survivors. “This record is like a sequel to the last, I wanted the continuity from the first one,” he explains. “I don’t really write any sort of story for my music, it’s more thematic. I always try and start from scratch with my music, I never want to make the same song twice. The first [record] felt like an optimistic invasion of aliens on earth. This one I wanted to be from a more human point of view, darker. It’s more post-apocalyptic.”
While there’s definitely a shift into a more aggressive, darker place in the music, where everything hits harder and meaner, there’s still bags of satirical fun to be had. Take songs like Saturday Night Screamer, with its nineteen fifties-esque horror soundbites, wherein a bloody massacre is heard in the distance of its outro amid chants of ‘we are your friends’. “It’s horrible, it’s got people dying and it’s grim,” Emeric laughs at the description. “I wanted the song to be ironic. I wanted the song to sound very optimistic and upbeat. All my work is about huge contrasts.”
That can be said for not just the settings of this fictional world HOLLYWOOD BURNS writes his music in, but the way the music itself is made. “This is why I like to use a theremin. What I found interesting, was that the contrast in synthwave is the outdated sounds and the badass aesthetic. To make those old, cheesy sounds feel really cool, I chose cheap sounds effects of UFOs and I wanted to make something really badass out of it.” Between the old school sound effects of bygone cinema and the heavy dance centric synthwave he creates, there’s definitely a lot to enjoy as both a music fan and a nostalgic lover of pop culture.
The initial inspiration for these records might not be all that surprising, but adds even more charm and fun to the ideas a play. “In the first place, I wasn’t influenced by the old movies,” Emeric tells us. “Initially I actually wanted to make something that sounded Doctor Who. That was my initial inspiration, even in the vocals using the VOCODER, to make it sound like a Dalek voice. The sci-fi 1950s film influence came after that. When I first started writing for Invaders on my first album that was what inspired me to start with.”
There’s plenty of modern references within metal and gaming within The Age of Saucers too. There’s a feel of the arcade in this record, of old games like Space Invaders and other 8-bit classics to inject some humour. It’s also undeniable the impact of Mick Gordon’s work on Doom (2016) on the wider alternative community, and HOLLYWOOD BURNS is more than happy to delve into that kind of badass sound in his work. “I think Mick Gordon has had a massive influence in metal music in general,” Emeric agrees. “I think his legacy is in a lot of music, he changed the face of modern metal and made it feel very energetic.” However, it’s not just thematic nods in the music of games that has an influence on this record, the core of different stories has also made it onto The Age of Saucers.
“The one I feel most proud of, or most connected to is Fallen Haven,” says Emeric. “The funny thing about this record is it’s taken years to put together, but you’ll hear it as one thing in the moment. There are songs that feel like one part of my life because of when they were put together, and the ones closest to now are the ones I feel closest to personally. Fallen Haven felt to me like a journey, I had played The Last of Us and was thinking about just walking and going some place in this post-apocalyptic land. The sounds are what I want my music to sound like going forward, that’s what I’m aiming at.” The journey for HOLLYWOOD BURNS has clearly just begun, with the promise of so much more innovation to explore.
The Age Of Saucers is out now via Blood Music.
Like HOLLYWOOD BURNS on Facebook.