THE MODEL SPY - "SERENEST (A LONG PLAY ON TRUTH, DECEIT AND SOUVENIRS)
One of the fringe benefits of running a music blog is feeling connected to music scenes from around the world that you have very little chance of visiting. After being introduced to the Athens, Greece based The Model Spy in 2020, I felt obligated to find out more about the scene that birthed this sort of excellently executed indie-pop with flourishes of post-chillwave retro synths and propulsive beat-making. The Model Spy was born out of an incredibly furtive time in Athens, Greece DIY Indie Pop scene that really reached its zenith in 2008. Fast forward to 2019, after years and years of piecing this album together with masterful strokes of new-wave and dream pop influenced instrumental tracks the group enlisted a series of vocalists to put these songs into the world. Serenest (A Long Play on Truth, Deceit and Souvenirs) was born out of hours of editing, fretting and nostalgia until a finished package of 14 fully fleshed songs were birthed into the world, marking a culmination of 10 years of friendship, collaborative shows and the impossible odds of holding onto D.I.Y. values the world over.
We are first introduced to the "Theme of Truth" via the album's intro - a woozy mix of back-tracked vocals and a pulsing bass line that propels us straight into "Spectacular" - a driving New Wave influenced track that glints with flecks of nostalgia and sadness at the edge of it's serrated bass line and drum machine passages. This is The Model Spy at their most New Order. Melodies that sound bright on their veneer, but darker and melancholy the moment you scratch off the gold flake paint. Similar post-chillwave keys and beat production follows into "Chinaski in Vox".
The album is then broken up into two other sections "Deceit" and "Souvenirs" each with their corresponding thematic movements. "Souvenirs" is a clarion dancefloor banger that cradles a pulsating bass line and chiming keys in its mid-BPM tempo - sounding like a song that would be pumping through the floorboards of a house party or basement show in the mid 2000's. Truly a souvenir from a time I, and many my age, cherish.
Serenest (A Long Play on Truth, Deceit and Souvenirs) is a masterful album that holds nostalgia and forward-thinking pop at a useful tension with one another - putting a capstone on the past while looking squarely into the future.
