Synth-aesthetica: synth pop, indie electronic & other synthethic beauty

Imagine the magnetic energy of something very early Madonna-like, layered with the cool, moody synth textures of ICEHOUSE. Now add in that crisp, modern edge of artists like CHVRCHES, La Roux, or Allie X – and you get… HLINS ^-^

... but, honestly, my + Rainer's (UAP) How Loud Is No Sound is REALLY catchy, REALLY vibey, and REALLY synthy. We had so much fun with this one, and the video was probably the hardest to put together we've ever done!! (didn't really expect that before we started). I really hope you’ll like it. Be warned, though – you might find yourself humming it for the rest of the week ;-)

Official Music VIDEO: https://youtu.be/efigWag_wsc
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0TAv2OwPhFpyDxji2OeHsk
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/how-loud-is-no-sound-single/1784382576

Lyrics:

I wish I could be silent
Without screaming loud
The arms folded down, violence
I could do without

No advice, no asking
Nothing I can fault
The ghosts hidden in my skin
I may have been wronged

But if there is no breathing
But if we keep on keeping
And if I cease all grieving
How loud is no sound?

If I breathe in what you’ve said
If I scream until I’m dead
If I climb into your head
How loud is no sound? 

I wished I could be myself
Then I couldn’t stop
Up in arms, a giant
Lost in tiny drops

But if there is no breathing
But if we keep on keeping
And if I cease all grieving
How loud is no sound?

If I breathe in what you’ve said
If I scream until I’m dead
If I climb into your head
How loud is no sound? 

No advice, no asking

The ghosts hidden in my skin

Maybe there is no breathing
Maybe we keep on cheating
But if we cease all grieving
How loud is no sound?

Try breathing in what you’ve said
Keep screaming after I’m dead
I will climb into your head

But if there is no breathing

And if I cease all grieving
How loud is no sound?

How Loud Is No Sound

Will You Remember Me?

Crowdfinding

Maybe I'll Stay in a Different Shadow

Deny

Hurricane

Listen/download ➤ https://ffm.colortheory.com/thisbrightcircumstance

“The Rehearsal” is about compulsively practicing conversations in your head—what you’ll say, how you’ll say it, and replaying it until it all feels just right, even if you end up never saying a word.

THE REHEARSAL
©2025 Brian Hazard (ASCAP)

I deal in daydreams
I traffic in text
Endless predictions of
What you’ll say next

I pick my battles
And I take my licks
At the rehearsal
I rewrite the script

There’s something I have to get off my chest
But I don’t know how to say it best

Tape decks chew on old cassettes
Restless pacing wears the floorboards
Grasp at smoke and call it home
Shape my thoughts like molten chrome

Stories aching to be told
Every silence must be broken
But I bottled the eclipse
From my umbra to your lips

It’s a compulsion
A cognitive trap
At the rehearsal
I polish my act

I’m the sole architect of each pause
I preach my gospel to empty halls

Why not let the words find their own flow?
I can make it all up as I go

Improvisation
Is the skillful way
Trust when the time comes
I’ll know what to say

Let go of scenes
That may never exist
Live in the moment
And welcome the risk

COLOR THEORY
@colortheory
Bandcamp - http://colortheory.bandcamp.com
Spotify - http://spoti.fi/1UbfAWa
Patreon - www.patreon.com/colortheory
Twitter - www.twitter.com/colortheory
Facebook - www.facebook.com/colortheory
YouTube - www.youtube.com/colortheory
Instagram - www.instagram.com/colortheory
Official - www.colortheory.com

Want five of my best songs for free?
https://colortheory.com

Get two new exclusive tracks every month:
http://patreon.com/colortheory

The Rehearsal

Sabotage

Empty State

Written and performed by Marci Elizabeth and Jimmy Deer
Produced by Jimmy Deer

From The Blue

Listen/download ➤ https://ffm.colortheory.com/thisbrightcircumstance

I lost my father last year to Alzheimer's and my mom is in the advanced stages. If I’m to befall the same fate, at least I left instructions.

WHEN I CAN'T REMEMBER YOU
©2025 Brian Hazard (ASCAP)

In the gathering dusk
I will fade to a husk
Vital systems will fail
Trains of thought will derail

What you think of as me
[in a healthy body]
Will in time cease to be
[promise]
Can you give me a clue
When I can’t remember you?

Every name, every face
[every precious moment]
Getting harder to place
[over]
Like a verse left unsung
On the tip of my tongue

We all end up as dust
[out of love or duty]
So we do what we must
[help me]
Hold my hand, guide me through
When I can’t remember you

“You’re going to lose it all”
A whisper in the gloom
Feel like I should apologize
For what I’ll put you through
The faithful will testify
That true love never dies
But nobody knows for sure
What’s going on behind those lost eyes

Recollection recedes
[in the final stages]
Strangers tend to my needs
[helpless]
Play this song in my room
When I can’t remember you

COLOR THEORY
@colortheory
Bandcamp - http://colortheory.bandcamp.com
Spotify - http://spoti.fi/1UbfAWa
Patreon - www.patreon.com/colortheory
Twitter - www.twitter.com/colortheory
Facebook - www.facebook.com/colortheory
YouTube - www.youtube.com/colortheory
Instagram - www.instagram.com/colortheory
Official - www.colortheory.com

Want five of my best songs for free?
https://colortheory.com

Get two new exclusive tracks every month:
http://patreon.com/colortheory

When I Can't Remember You

Ghosts of the Tsunami is the driving and intense new single from Isaac
Howlett, the charismatic singer/songwriter behind the internationally-
renowned UK synth-pop band, Empathy Test, now making waves as a solo
artist.

After three consecutive #1 singles on the German Alternative Chart (DAC) with
House of Cards, Endless Night and most recently Eggshell, which also peaked at
#13 (Germany), #15 (Sweden) and #31 (Spain) on the iTunes Alternative Chart,
Howlett continues to explore dark terrain with Ghosts of the Tsunami. Vocally, it has
the same anthemic, haunting quality as its predecessor, but here the beats and
driving bass provided by co-producer and mixer Daniel Myer (Liebknecht, Architect,
Covenant etc.) give the track a greater energy.

"Lyrically, Ghosts of the Tsunami was inspired by the 2017 non-fiction novel of the
same name, by Richard Lloyd Parry", says Howlett, "it’s about the aftermath of the
Japanese tsunami and some of the dead not knowing they were dead. The song
draws a comparison to the loss of feeling amongst the living."

Like Eggshell, Ghosts of the Tsunami already has some buzz around it, having been
performed live several times by Howlett at his solo shows earlier in 2025, but also
this September to December he is performing it with Empathy Test on their biggest
European tour to date.

A full EP, featuring the two original tracks, Eggshell and Ghosts of the Tsunami, a
“radio edit” of Eggshell, plus remixes by genCAB, Clan of Xymox and Suzi Sabotage,
will be released digitally and on CD in November. There will also be a 7” picture disc
featuring the two original tracks and artwork/photography by Bernd Schwinn.

Ghosts of the Tsunami

This Bright Circumstance (Matt Mancid Remixes)

The Last Time (Matt Mancid Remix)

Information Overload

i dontreallyknow (Prod. Foutanga)

From Grimes' "Visions"
Arbutus Records 2012

Visions

Oblivion

Grimes - Oblivion

The Mother We Share out now: http://po.st/TWMSiT

The Bones Of What You Believe out now. Standard: http://po.st/TBOWYB | Special: http://po.st/TBOWYBSpecial

http://chvrch.es/
https://facebook.com/CHVRCHES
https://twitter.com/chvrches
http://chvrches.tumblr.com/

The Bones Of What You Believe

The Mother We Share

Somehow I never outgrew the 80s.

Download five of my best songs for free at https://colortheory.com

The Last Time (Matt Mancid Remix)

Color Theory

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