The video for “Neon Dreamers,” the new single from Arcade Knights, opens on a cityscape that could be from Blade Runner or Tron. Against that backdrop, epic vintage synthesizers combine with massive, reverb-soaked drums to set the stage as lyrics flash across the screen, with heavily digitized female vocals:
We’re the neon dreamers lighting up the sky
Chasing our tomorrow, never asking why
With our hearts electric, breaking through the dark
In this digital world, we’ll make our mark
Evoking the Stranger Things soundtrack as much as Daft Punk, this is a track that asks: What does it mean to be human in a world dominated by machines?
That question drives the mission of Arcade Knights, the synthwave-cyberpunk electronic music project of Canadian musician Dean Parsons. Parsons has a passion for the sounds of vintage 1980s drum machines and synthesizers — evident in his use of authentic hardware like the LinnDrum or the Oberheim OB-8.
While the sounds of that vintage hardware can now be easily replicated in a modern computer-based digital audio workstation (DAW), Parsons likes the analog feel and warm tones of the standalone units. Buttons, knobs, faders, pads, and patch cables make using these items a physical and tactile experience that isn’t captured by the click of a mouse.
His penchant for real machines extends throughout the production process, where he records, mixes, and masters right in his MPC hardware sequencer.
“My main production machine is not a DAW,” he says. “Every track, every note, every melody, is written and recorded all running through purpose-built music hardware. A lot of heart comes through the physical keys and pads.”
“Neon Dreamers” is a bookend to the larger Cyber Hack album originally released in March of this year. The collection tells a futuristic story of hackers raised in an AI world who use their skills for good, ensuring that humans are using technology for their purposes – and not the other way around.
Parsons knows this theme well: raised in the 1980s on Commodore 64s and sci-fi movies like Terminator and Robocop, and now becoming a cybersecurity expert, he has lived his life at the crossroads of the analog and the digital.
“It’s important to embrace technology, but don’t let it control your life,” Parsons says. “We should control it for our human benefit. I’m not saying ‘Down with technology!’ What I’m saying is: it’s growing at a rapid pace, and we can’t keep up. If we continue to rely on it as we do, it will control us. And that’s the message of the Cyber Hack album. I love technology. But it’s a double-edged sword.”
Cyber Hack is a full multimedia experience. In addition to the aforementioned video, there is an accompanying graphic novel telling the story of “rogue retro hackers” rising against evil AI, where the album serves as the soundtrack to the novel. There is the Arcade Knights merch store as well.
Learn more about Arcade Knights at the links below. Follow now to keep tabs on “Neon Dreamers” and other exciting projects:
CybΞR HΛck: Uprising The Graphic Novel I YouTube I Instagram I TikTok I Facebook I Bandcamp I Spotify I Apple Music I Amazon Music I Digital merch on Gumroad I Main merch I Justice Graphic Novel
