PLATFORMS (Michael Palace) – The Future That Never Happened [Ltd CD Edition] (2021)

PLATFORMS is the baby of American vocalist Jordan Cox and Swede Michael Palace (PALACE, FIND ME) who met on the internet last year discovering each other’s love and dedication to melodic synthwave pop/rock with a great portion of Eighties sound.
The result is “The Future That Never Happened“, a collection of pretty awesome melodic rock with soaring clean vocals, keyboard splashes and the ’80s feeling all over.
Initially only available digitally in 2020, here’s finally a limited run of 500 CDs released by MelodicRock Records.

It’s no secret we’ve been way into the retro synthwave sound lately, especially bands like Magic Dance and LeBrock where the synth-pop elements are paired with strong melodic rock elements, so when we heard Swedish guitarist / keyboardist Michael Palace had this new melodic rock / synthwave-inspired project, something good it was around the corner.

This is really fun stuff, weaving all over classic ’80s synth-pop, melodic rock, and synthwave. It’s extremely catchy, and very well-written and produced (by Palace). These are not just ’80s synth landscapes, these are solid songs, with guitar solos and all.
And Jordan Cox, who wrote most of the songs, is a really good singer with a warm voice.

The synths are gorgeously retro (like an eternally happy The Midnight) and Cox’s vocals are perfect for the dancier tracks like “Sweetness” and “Go All Night” as well as the more rocking “River In The Dark” and “Higher Ground.”

It doesn’t needs three spins through ”The Future That Never Happened” to go from “hey, this is really good” to “OMG why doesn’t everything sound like this!?!”
Platforms is a fantastic new synthwave / melodic rock project that fits perfectly alongside bands like The Midnight, LeBrock, Magic Dance and FM-84.
Highly Recommended

01 – Dragon Energy
02 – Sweetness
03 – Day Ruiner
04 – River in the Dark
05 – Bring You Home
06 – One-Track Mind
07 – Go All Night
08 – Superficial Love
09 – Out of the Valley
10 – Vienna
11 – Higher Ground

Vocals, Keyboards: Jordan Cox
Guitar, Bass, Programming: Michael Palace
Produced, mixed & mastered by Michael Palace

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