Neon Arcade’s debut single, “Valley Girl,” has a dreamy synthwave quality that creates an entire world during its four-minute run.
It’s a summery, warm, and vibrant world – one where the golden hour goes on for eternity, palm trees gracefully line busy city streets, and the fruity drinks are bottomless. It’s a song you want to blast as you drive through city streets under the stars with the windows down.
The song is especially polyphonic as it builds – beginning with some retro synths in true synthwave fashion, paired with some punchy gated drum. The syrupy-smooth and warm electric guitar comes in not even thirty seconds into the song, transforming it from a retrofuturist tune to a mellow, summertime experience. The vocals are lofty and echoey, coupled with distant harmonies. I highly recommend you listen to this song in surround-sound stereo to fully enjoy the soundscape it creates around you.
Neon Arcade is Brandon Queen’s alter ego, based out of LA. He has played with a variety of bands like Strangeheart and Slow Coming Day, and Neon Arcade is his first attempt at writing and producing his own music, fueled by inspiration that hit during quarantine. He’s a professional hypnotist and magician, which explains the truly hypnotic and even world-building qualities of “Valley Girl.” Having cycled through multiple musical inspirations, ranging from 80s cult favorites like The Smiths to his phase as a teenager listening strictly to hip-hop, Queen’s objective is to make music that is satisfying and pleasant to him as a listener, saying, “My goal is to take what I love about the 80's aesthetically, adapt it with some of the new thinking and club vibe that outrun is bringing, but layer it together with more chill surf-rock vibes.”
Written by Jess Ward, Edited by Tatum Jenkins
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