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I became a lifelong fan of electronic synthesizer music during the late 1970s, and, as such, am susceptible to being easily distracted by the description “German synth-pop three-piece” on a list of new music releases. Insert visions of endearingly stiff Kraftwerk-esque musicians in button collar shirts, thin ties, and eyeglasses hovering in a robotic stance behind their Korg synthesizers dancing like sugarplums in my head.
In reality, The Hypnotic Lights do not share a lot of common ground with the Kraftwerk or Gary Numan imagery that first popped into my mind upon reading the description. Instead, The Hypnotic Lights occupy the same joyously-cluttered realm of colorful disarray where recent synth-pop bands like CSS and Brazilian Girls originated. This is not sweeping synth-pop for the ages, but that does not make it any less fun.
On their EP, We Are, The Hypnotic Lights throw a handful of effortless pitches from the mound. The first and best track, Hey We Are, is the one that flies over the bleachers and out of the park with catchy synth hooks and lead male vocals in the vein of The Human League while playful female vocals chime in from the background before taking the lead on the second verse. The other five original tracks are not as catchy, not as melodic, and not quite as memorable, but they’re all base hits that maintain the same gleeful spirit of abandon. Only the sixth track, Storm, varies into slower mood-driven terrain. The two remixes that complete the EP are decent in the ephemeral and ultimately forgettable way that remixes usually are, but the six original tracks are enough to put The Hypnotic Lights on the map as a promising electronic band for the kids, and for those of us adults who are still kids at heart.
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