3 I Ø 8 - 3 I Ø 8

We get a lot of anonymous submissions in the TiM inbox, and late last summer we received one name-checking La Dusseldorf, Mayo Thompson, and John Hughes soundtracks. It piqued our interest and when you take a listen you’ll understand why. Hailing from London, England, 31Ø8 (aka Tyler Zypreksa) has been crafting shiny pop gems all by his lonesome, building up an impressive backlog of tunes that hit all the sweet spots from O.M.D. to La Dusseldorf, to Trio & the pining ennui of the teenage angst-anthems littering your ‘Pretty In Pink’ & ‘Breakfast Club’ soundtracks.

Although 31Ø8’s influences may lie in the discarded neon bones of the Eighties & Nineties there’s an infectious spark of melodic tune-smithing permeating the album’s ten tunes. Zypreska clearly knows his way around a pop hook & each one sinks its talons in a lil’ deeper with each listen. The candy-coated earworms of songs like “Go To Hell” or “Neon Crush” with their manic, synth-soaked throb butt up against the yearning sincerity of “Silent Running” or “Don’t Start” (which owe equal debts to the balladry of both the Psychedelic Furs and The Shangri-Las) and collapse in a heap of teenage tears and unanswered emails.

Matt Rendon, Doug Tuttle, Jacco Gardner & Morgan Delt - a.k.a. the “man alone in a studio”. The unfiltered vision of what comes from an artist recording in seclusion is something we here at TiM have a keen interest in & we feel that more often than not it conjures up a razor-sharp musical focus & giddy freedom when unencumbered by that pesky word “compromise”. 31Ø8 is here to stay & we’re ecstatic to make your introductions.

RIYL: The Soft Moon, La Dusseldorf, Trio, OMD, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Soft Cell, Wild Nothing