Scandroid

Emerging from the neon-lit underbelly of a fictional Neo-Tokyo, Scandroid began as the solo endeavor of synth-wave creator Klayton. He fused synth pop, industrial textures, and cinematic soundscapes in the vein of John Carpenter for the project's inaugural recording, the 2016 album Scandroid, then sustained momentum through the remainder of the decade via a collection of remixes, the follow-up Monochrome, and two EPs ultimately packaged together as The Darkness and the Light in 2020.

Based in Detroit, Klayton invented the persona Red, whose invented backstory describes uncovering the “New Retro” sound of a “forgotten era” (the 1980s) and launching Scandroid to revive that vintage approach. The project first surfaced in 2013 when Klayton and synth colleague Varien issued the opening single “Salvation Code.” Scandroid’s electronic atmospheres drew from the style of contemporaries S U R V I V E and Lost Years while echoing earlier influences such as Depeche Mode, Skinny Puppy, Tears for Fears, and New Order. After a second single appeared, Varien stepped away in 2014 to pursue independent work.

The first proper full-length arrived near the end of 2016; the self-titled Scandroid included a contribution from Klayton’s 1990s industrial metal outfit Circle of Dust on “Pro-bots and the Robophobes.” In 2017 the remix album Dreams of Neo-Tokyo followed, incorporating reworkings by Dance with the Dead, Waveshaper, and Gost, while “The Force Theme”—a luminous take on the Star Wars main title—and “A Thousand Years” both found homes on Monochrome. Closing out 2018 with the EP The Darkness, Klayton delivered its counterpart The Light the next year before uniting the two into the 2020 compilation The Darkness and the Light.