In Modern Love With Kristine

Greece's favourite daughter of 80s inspired music is without a doubt the inimitable Kristine. The latest work from this artist is a  six track EP with three originals and three remixes. The Modern Love EP is a sublime mix of magical 80s sounds that are charged with poweful emotions and delivered like a number one with a bullet: straight to the heart.




If there's one word I could use to describe Kristine's sound it would be presence. There is a presence this producer radiates in all her music and this is brought to bear even more in Modern Love. The prescence is an intimacy, an emotion and an understanding. It's the presence of Kristine that eminates and resounds throughout every piece of music her glowing touch brushes against.

The EP opens up with the title track. Saturated in desperation and desire, the music symbiotically rises with the vocal performance; from a whisper to a roar, and the build is pure majesty. The instrumentation is the absolute perfect blend of classic sounds, with rhythm guitars accenting the emotive synths and the drums pounding like an intense heart beat. Kristine's singing is easily, in this fan's opinion, the absolute epitomy of the 80s sound and this opener gives her the chance to really bring the listener into an intimate setting that hints at that passion within, before soaring into a chorus of blazing triumph. This song grabs you tight and never lets go as you soar into the summer of Kristine's imagination.

After the first chapter completes and composure is regained the crisply clean delivery of Summer Long Gone begins. It's like the passage of time between tracks has been eons, not seconds, making for passionate memories of a time of innocence and first love discoveries. This song speaks of danger and love in the same breath, cast with a a shadow of yearning wishfulness of a time now irretrievable. The music feels as tortured as Kristine vocal delivery, giving hope little chance and causing the memories to scar even deeper. As the music abruptly ends it becomes clear that the pain of the past will be something that will haunt us, but we must take pleasure from positives of the experience, even if the hurt is almost too much to recount.

Soulful reminising gives way to energised electricity in The Danger as it is now time to rock, harder than ever before. Kristine's always been one to make the guitars work perfectly in her music, and this is definitely the high water mark thus far. The riffs crash with rocktacular resplendence while the drums drive the rhythms hard and the synths cascade in dimensions of keyboard emotions. This artist's gift for arranging songs like feature events is once again made very obvious. A smooth build unleashes an uncompromisingly explosion of musical energies that thunder down from the heavens like a vengegful deity. The Danger is another passionately written adventure with the excitement and precariousness of young love taken on a high speed chase through the night and into a new morning with the sun breaking over the horizon. Looking back into our lover's eyes makes any risk worth it.

The presence of Kristine is felt through every second of these three songs. The whispers of the past constrast with the promise of a future, but it's the intimacy that Kristine maintains through the orchestrations and vocalisations that reallly elevate these pieces into the stratosphere. I can't think of another artist on the planet capable of delivering such a true and passionate modern take on classical 80s sounds in such a complete package and for this reason alone this EP is a Synthetix Reference Experience and a must-have release for any afficionado of authentic 80s music.

The EP is completed with three remixes, Barretso and Power Glove remix Modern Love while the always engaging Mitch Murder takes his hand to The Danger. Each of these remixes works in their own way and stand on their own as brand new experiences in the Kristine universe. Barretso's work has moved away from the traditional 80s sounds and into a more modern personality, his remix takes Modern Love kicking and screaming in 2012 electro house, which actually works on a different level than the original entirely. The music takes on new tones and dimensions while still retaining the Kristine mystique.

Mitch Murder's sounds always seem to combine so wonderfully with Kristine's and this is another case where both artists shine and bask in eachother glows as the rock is reduced but the synths are cranked to the heavens. Perhaps the most interesting remix is the Power Glove remix, a return to the scene for this seminal 80s synth warrior. His take on Modern Love is a dark and furious piece of raw emotion that is really something exceptional to behold. It's like an alternate ending to your favourite movie, adding something familar but twisted into a new meaning; and that meaning in this case is frightening as hell.

Kristine's Modern Love EP is very special release, the three originals are stupendous examples of how to do 80s poprock synth absoloutely perfectly. You will hear many 80s artists in Modern Love's chapters but the overall presence of Kristine is thoroughly overpowering. And it's this presence that is something I can't wait to revisit and feel time and time again.

The Modern Love EP is presented by Tuffem Up! Records on iTunes here and I encourage everyone to indulge in Kristine's wondrous presence as quickly as time allows.