(Synthpop, New Wave) Visage - Dreamer I Know (EP) - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

80's New Wave heroes Visage burst back into action in May with the release of their first album in over twenty odd years, titled 'Hearts & Knives'. Dreamer I Know' is the second single off the record, following 'Shameless Fashion' which was given away free to eager fans back in April. Featuring a revamped lineup, including enigmatic front man Steve Strange (famous, amongst other things, for turning away Mick Jagger at the doors of Blitz Club in Covent Garden) bass player Steve Barnacle, Ultravox's Robin Simon on Guitar, vocalist Lauren Duvall, Visage have opted to stay true to their original sound, with an arsenal of analogue synthesisers from the era, classic guitar amps, and plenty of help from old and dear friends. "Dreamer I Know" is the Visage re-imagine of a track written by 80's super producer Youth and South African singer-songwriter Arno Carstens. It's the most immediately accessible song on the album and features a catchy adult-pop chorus which imprints rapidly. Mick Macneil (the former creative musical core of Simple Minds) adds the lead keyboard lines which although played on an old Korg analog monosynth somehow manage to evoke his Scottish homeland. In 1980, Visage broke through with their single "Fade To Grey", which became a European hit and reached number 1 in eight countries. The band then enjoyed a series of hit singles "Mind Of A Toy", "Night Train" and "The Anvil" coming from a pair genre defying albums, the eponymous "Visage" in 1980 and "The Anvil" in 1982.