Synthia Looper is a musician and performance artist out of Flint, Michigan whose music is a blend of dark, edgy, synth-pop and dreamy electronica. With the use of looping, voice FX and her electric guitar she sings songs of vengeance, loss, love, lust, sexuality, mental anguish and equality. Conceptualized out of a deep love of sci-fi, fantasy, cosplay, feminism and social justice, Synthia Looper was born. She is a synthapien (part human, alien and synthetic android). Through song and art, she generates otherworldly sounds and lyrics to regale listeners of her inter-dimensional travels. She loops through space and time, experiencing many variations of form and life. Nevertheless, she remains a strong, bold artist whose compassion for humanity never sways. Her mission is to transport listeners to her world where delicate beauty and romance coexist with the dark, the light and cybernetics. Along with Synthia Looper’s husband and creative partner, the artist recorded all the songs in their home studio. The setup is very basic – and the result phenomenal, in my opinion.
They used a student version of Logic 9 with an Apogee Duet pre amp and any compression, EQ, delay, reverb, etc. are plugins that came with the software. They also used a Warm Audio WA-87 condenser mic to record all of Synthia Looper’s vocals. With the exception of guitar tracks, all the other instruments are software-derived. The duo mixed the songs entirely in-the-box. Nothing special other than trial and error until the spirit of the song felt right. Then they passed the songs over to Detroit-based mastering engineer Jim Kissling. With their shoe-string budget and minimal gear, not to mention very little physical space, their emphasis turned from what gear they had, to how to use it and how to get the best out of it, while they envisioned this new sound.
Synthia Looper EP is composed of three songs that can be enjoyed on their own but also listened to together. It’s not really a full-on concept album but it’s part of Synthia Looper’s synth pop cyberpunk world-building. She listened to a lot of St Vincent, Daphne Guinness and Goldfrapp, with some big beat or minimal techno during the songwriting process. Massive Attack, Bjork and Imogen Heap have always had a heavy influence, as well. The duo discussed world-building a lot too during the writing process, and were deeply influenced by several cyber-focused graphic novels and movies. They spent two years writing while stuck inside during COVID shutdowns, and really took their time to be intentional.
Synthia Looper states that with COVID and so many other travesties happening at the time, she was seeing in real-time how fragile life can be. So when this project launched, she felt as though she couldn’t afford to be anything other than herself: A music, sci-fi, makeup, cosplay and beauty loving artist who has a lot to say about not only the horrors of our world, but also the value of hope, perseverance, connection and courage. Synthia Looper, is her way of expressing herself whole-heartedly. As a sci-fi heroine who sings sci-fi inspired lyrics that are metaphors for equality, love, death, mental anguish and courage, she became a way of fighting back, instilling hope, and standing up (or in this case, singing) for humanity in a creative way.
First is “Sentient” and it begins with an ominous, searing synth vibe – all-encompassing the ears. Joining in with Synthia Looper’s beautiful voice are other various electronic effects form the keys – a pulsating rhythm, a hypnotic droning sound, a deep bass beat and other guitar effects on top of all that. “Brilliant Minds” has got a slightly slower tempo and chilling presence. There seems to be more drum machines going on here, along with plenty of synth sounds and a synth pop melody that’s hard not to like. Lyrically, with the opening lines – “They may say that everything is okay / what do they know / they’ve been lying since the very first day / putting on a show” – aka, “brilliant minds” who have “prophesied our demise / the only promise they’ve kept.” Well, I’m not going to lie to you – this isn’t a happy song, but it is truthful in a lot of ways and very well performed. Last up is “The Ascent” – a cyberpunk, electronic wave of sound, some parts even delving into an industrial style.
There’s a lot of great textures going on in this tune – a big, pulsating drum beat, layers and layers of synth sounds, some bell sounds, strings and a fun sing-song melody. The words suggest someone is on the precipice of either going completely mad, taking their own life, or both. A very emotional song lyrically, and another great song if you love electronic synth pop music. In fact, if you love the synth sounds from the early ‘80s to today, electronica, trance and dream pop genres from the likes of Missing Persons, Gary Numan, Poliça, Björk, Kraftwerk – the list goes on, I suggest listening to Synthia Looper. Enough said.
Heather Savage
