Comfy Synth Dumpster Dive
by Planex
Tue, 6 Jun 2023
Read in 6 minutes
Sometime an interdimensional gnome needs a rest
You’re a gnome having a picnic with another gnome, your friend brought cheese and crackers. He explains a wonderful recipe for a mushroom stew. After a while, you part ways and walk along the gentle flowing stream, past the meadow, back to your cottage, where you enjoy a nice glass of wine before bed.
This is the mental space you need to be in for comfy synth. If you don’t already understand, click off this article now, this will not be for you. This is a collection of new releases fit only for people who need to live a certain way. Open a window, go for a morning walk, watch a bunny run in a circle, and enjoy the gentle sounds of comfy synth.
Frog Concert - Slumbering Sounds of the Frog Fellowship
May-13 Fiadh
When the frogs go to frog church in the frog swamp, they hear an organ recital from Frog Concert. All of the frogs ribbit and croak in approval. The frog fellowship doesn’t actually chime in that much, as the peaceful organ playing keeps a steady comfy mood going. Much of this album is merely nice sounding without drawing too much attention. Some parts veer towards the word ‘Carnival’ but mostly I just wanted more frog sounds.
This being the first dive into the pleasant and delicate Comfy Synth Dumpster (Not to be referred to as the ComfDumpster), a new metric must be explained. The Comfy score is simply how much comfort a piece compels. This can’t always be captured numerically, as numbers are so frequently uncomfortable to use.
Comfy Score - Frog Carnival / 10
Score - 4/10
Having not heard Book of the Bog Vol. 1, I can’t be certain that I’m getting the full story. Why are the necro-crocodiles attacking the bog-folk? Why do I find the grainy compression / clipping distortion charming in some strange way? This sits in the gray area between dungeon synth and comfy synth. It’s too upbeat and chiptuney to be purely dungeon synth, but tonally dark enough that you don’t feel like a gnome picking mushrooms for tea time with all of your bunny and chipmunk friends.
Comfy Score - Wet socks at 6am on the hunting trip / 10
Score - 5/10
After listening to 7 Piyakdu demos as well as the Shimla full length album last year, I had been looking forward to some more Piyakdu. It’s a very calming, hypnotic style of ambient comfy synth that leaves me feeling spiritually whole. On Vissiones ov Naeku the’e Plowmanne, which doesn’t seem to continue the story of the drunken wanderer Naeku as described on the first 5 demos, Piyakdu has refined the material that worked on the demos into a longer, more polished release. Even still, it feels like some of the tracks end abruptly, which brings me out of the comfy vibe.
Comfy Score - Day drinking a bit too much on a quiet day off, falling asleep on the couch and having a “Vissione” / 10
Score - 6/10
Watcher - This World Of Wonder
May-31 Independent
Watcher’s album is more ambitious than your usual woodland creature album art ambient / comfy synth release you’ll find on bandcamp. There’s more going on rhythmically, more ideas shown, and much more echo present. Watcher is going for ‘fantasy synth’ and not strictly comfy synth which does seem to allow more room for experimentation. Unfortunately there is an ever-present sense of amateurishness to This World Of Wonder. Many sections are right on the edge of interesting and awkward. Hope to hear more in the future.
Comfy Score - 6/10
Score - 4/10
L’élan - Forêt Des Fées
May-31 Independent
Soft string instruments, gentle percussion and a distinctly forest-y flute loop for about 24 minutes. Allegedly there were multiple tracks, and it’s entirely possible that it isn’t a loop. There are some boioioing sounds that stand out every once in a while, but I won’t be able to recall a single thing about this 5 minutes after I finish writing this blurb.
Comfy Score - Actually getting lost in the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time / 10
Score - 3/10
Casiotomb - The Golden Knight
May-31 Heimat Der Katastrophe
