Juvenescence - Glamour Driven

​Juvenescence

Glamour Driven
self-released; 2016

3.7 out of 5

By Matt Jensen
​

Juvenescence is a solo project from an individual from West Virginia. I get the feeling he may want to stay anonymous considering he is hiding his face on his bandcamp page and doesn't have a website. At any rate he has been releasing music on bandcamp with his latest being Glamour Driven.

He makes dark synth pop for the most part. The type of sound that first made an appearance in the late 70’s and 80’s and had a pretty big revival thanks to labels like Italians Do It Better and the soundtrack to the movie Drive to name a few.

If you like synth pop in general you will enjoy Glamour Driven. That being said I thought there were certain songs which were clear highlights. He opens with “Serene” which revolves a classic 808 drum sound and synths. 

​This is a highlight and the chorus is one of the more memorable of the batch. “Plans for Paris” is arguably the best song on the album. There is a clear 80’s vibe here and I was reminded of Morrissey in a number of ways when it came to the singing style. 

“Forever” felt out of place after the first three songs. It’s more experimental, contains spoken word and doesn’t have any a memorable melody. The song has an industrial post-apocalyptic sci-fi feel to it as if I was  listening to a factory in motion.The track might have worked around thirty seconds but at almost three minutes I was losing my patience.

After that odd deviation he gets back into more familiar territory with “Cheap Thrill”. As the album progresses his strongest songs are those with a definable verse and chorus but are also upbeat with a hint of melancholy. “Abstract” and the title track were the other standouts.

Glamour Driven isn't perfect but there are some gems on here. There are a mix of classic sounds  that work just as good as they do today as they did thirty years ago. Two thumbs up.