Keep Feeling (Fascination)
The Human League
One of the most exuberant synthpop records of its era, built on a loop of almost childlike energy that somehow never feels naive. The melody is enormous, the chorus one of those constructions that seems to expand each time it arrives. Oakey delivers with theatrical investment, and the string arrangements push the whole thing toward something almost operatic. The lyric circles around obsession and longing, ideas the band returned to constantly, but here they're wrapped in such unabashed enthusiasm that the darkness barely registers on first listen. Second and third listens reveal the contradiction: a song this gleeful about something this consuming. Best played in sunlight, windows open, volume impolite.
fast
1980s
bright, expansive, operatic
United Kingdom
Electronic, Pop. Synthpop. Euphoric, Obsessive. Bursts open with childlike exuberance and escalates toward near-operatic grandeur, the darkness of obsession barely registering beneath the joy. energy 8. fast. danceability 8. valence 8. vocals: theatrical, exuberant, invested, grand, sweeping. production: enormous melody, string arrangements, soaring chorus, lush layers. texture: bright, expansive, operatic. acousticness 2. era: 1980s. United Kingdom. Best played in sunlight with windows open and the volume impolite.