This week’s synth pop pairs conscience with a pulse. Warm, thoughtful songwriting, defiant electronic energy, retro textures and real feeling driving every hook, music with something to say and a beat to move you. Turn it up and let it glow.
Cosmic Anxiety – Rise Up
Shimmering 80s synths meet a clenched-fist attitude on “Rise Up”, a superb hit of Berlin dark-pop from Cosmic Anxiety, menace and melody in perfect tension.
This one’s straight in with attitude and a pulse. “Rise Up” welds alternative and electronic pop to a dark, defiant streak, shimmering 80s-tinged synths and propulsive rhythm topped by Eli’s commanding vocal. There’s a political current running beneath the hooks, frustration turned into forward momentum rather than gloom, and the production stays zinging from the off. The synth work is the standout here, all push and pull, menace and melody. It’s a proper, dark banger.
Cosmic Anxiety are a Berlin band founded in October 2025, built around two members, Eli and Gasher plus, in their own words, ‘some synths’. They deal in alternative, electronic and dark-pop with a strong 80s flavour and a political edge, pairing female-fronted vocals with a lean, synth-driven sound made for both the head and the floor. There’s a playful, no-nonsense spirit to how they carry themselves, and the music delivers on it with real bite. A bold new outfit, and I definitely want to hear more.
PLAYKNOW – Is It So Hard To Be Good
Born from a fictional op-ed about a society that rewards outrage, “Is It So Hard To Be Good” is a beautiful, 80s tinged synth-pop plea for kindness from PLAYKNOW and Kim Rysstad.
Here’s a song with a genuinely unexpected origin. Before writing a single lyric, Hans Petter Stormoen started work on a fictional opinion article reflecting on a society that increasingly rewards outrage, division and putting others down rather than understanding and humanity, and one question kept returning: is it so hard to be good? Love a big concept, and the synthpop, disco-adjacent treatment does it a whole lot of justice. Written in autumn 2025, the song grew from that question, a gentle reminder that kindness can help shape the world we want to live in. Vocally it’s great too, but it’s the synth work and production that standout for me. A real beauty.
PLAYKNOW is a Norwegian music project created by songwriter Hans Petter Stormoen, rooted in nu-disco with close and distant relatives spanning adult contemporary, synth-pop, new wave, retro-pop, funk and soul. Every release serves the song rather than a formula, with different artists brought in to give each track its own character, and producer Frode Berntzen a regular collaborator. Here that guest is Kim Rysstad, whose warmth, authenticity and emotional depth were written into the song from the very start, making him an essential part of it rather than simply a featured name. A compelling concept, and an even better track.