Pessimism runs like an unchecked virus through Screensaver’s ominous synth-punk. The Melbourne band may prize forward momentum and diamond-sharp melodic edges, but their real point of difference is singer/keyboardist Krystal Maynard’s glowering vocals and irony-laced lyrics.
Begun as a remote collaboration between Austin, Texas resident Christopher Stephenson (Spray Paint) and Melbourne’s Maynard (Bad Vision), Screensaver became a proper live band when Stephenson moved to Australia in 2019 and the project absorbed members of Lowtide and Rat Columns. Recording their albums so far with Julian Cue (CIVIC, Gut Health), they’ve created a distinctively disorienting atmosphere through a barrage of synths and effects. Yet the music itself is consistently catchy and direct, driving home acute angles and other satisfying sudden turns.
Echoing the themes of their 2021 debut ‘Expressions of Interest’, potent follow-up ‘Decent Shapes’ casts a withering eye on the everyday language of modern capitalism and other forms of rot creeping up around us in real time. “Are you an interested party?” mocks Maynard on ‘Party Interest’. “Will you come to the table? Will you bring us your best offer?” ‘Severance Pay’ similarly skewers corporate bywords, while on ‘Future Trash’ she rattles off the bargain-friendly attributes of a shoddy product destined to be discarded: “So easy, convenient and cheap/I tell you these prices cannot be beat”.
Such observations aren’t revelatory on their own, but Screensaver savvily amplify the bad news we already know and often ignore. Packaged within the band’s synth-fogged, rhythm-driven sound, assorted signs of decay become all the more pronounced and worrisome. Also, Screensaver aren’t all one-note doom and gloom. Those bleak themes play closely with a gripping rhythm section and even some brighter new wave flourishes. When Maynard breaks into a higher yelp on tracks like ‘The Guilt’, she edges into B-52s territory. Other turns recall the self-aware snap of Devo as much as they do darker influences from goth and post-punk.
There’s plenty more here than just takedowns of consumer culture, too. ‘Drainer’ dips into horror movie imagery while describing an exhausting force of personality. ‘No Vacation’ centres on the modern seesaw between anxiety and fatigue, while on ‘Direct Debit’ Maynard turns her lyrics to self-affirmation rather than desperation. This track, something akin to tunefully distorted garage rock, achieves the album’s lightest, most upbeat vibe.
Between that cheerier outlier and the playful synths bubbling through opener ‘Red Lines’, there’s a sense that Screensaver could easily dissipate some of the cloud cover on this record. But it’s that push and pull between heavy mood and sporadic breeziness that creates some of the best friction here. With repeated listens, those subtle contrasts prove just as vital to ‘Decent Shapes’ as the tense musical interplay and Maynard’s cathartic lyrics.
