New Artist: Apollo Gets The Girl

If you like the '80s, things that are dark and edgy, or keytars, then you will adore Apollo Gets the Girl. And even if you don't like any of those things, you can still appreciate the balls it takes to put all those things together in a coherent manner.

Apollo Gets the Girl is trio from Glasgow, drawing inspiration from space (apparent in the name) and the '80s (apparent in the music). Whenever I hear the phrase “80s synth pop,” my head is filled with images of glitter and chimes, for some reason. While Apollo Gets the Girl is classified as electronic/synth pop, it’s darker than what you might expect.

This edge is especially apparent in the video for “Kitten,” with all the images of squids and mud in the layered black and white.  “Kitten” starts off like a sunny pop tune, but then you start to hear the grit underneath the synths and it turns from something typical to something unexpected. Plus this video features, not one, but TWO keytars, so that’s different.

In the video for “New Dawn,” you get Apollo Gets the Girl's darker undertones right off the bat. This song has a more wistful sound to it, complimented by the sense of abandonment in the video.

Apollo Gets the Girl is doing a great job of taking a decades-old trend and making it sound completely new and unique. I would definitely keep an eye on these guys.