Music on Hold

Enthusiasts of new wave, Music On Hold craft neon-hued synthesizer tracks aimed at audiences beyond the millennium. Their first full-length effort, 30 Minutes Of, surfaced in 2021, with the more intimate and self-produced follow-up 4EVER arriving two years later.

Formed in Paris, France, the group originated as a solo outlet for principal songwriter Emile Cartron-Eldin. In the late 2010s he issued several self-made cassette EPs under the name—Alpha Tape, Beta Tape, and Gamma Tape among them—which Parisian imprint Gone with the Weed later assembled into longer collections. Born Bad Records noticed the material and handled remastering duties for select cuts while pairing them with fresh compositions for the official debut. During this period Guillaume Mobstaire and the mononymous Mathis, previously of Skategang and Police Control, became official members. The aptly named 30 Minutes Of reached stores via Born Bad in February 2021; leftover recordings from those sessions surfaced the next year as the CLAY EP.

Cartron-Eldin and his collaborators convened in a basement facility to shape the likewise handmade synth-pop statements of the second album, (Music On Hold) 4EVER. Featuring lyrics of a more autobiographical bent that touch on early-life memories, the set appeared on Born Bad in 2023.