Michael Oakley’s Dark (But Hopeful) ‘Prologue’

Four years ago Michael Oakley, a certified titan of synthwave, wrote in these very pages about the scourge of “copywave,” a somewhat self-explanatory term used to describe knockoff artists mimicking the sound and even visual aesthetic of more popular musicians in the genre’s scene. Hop in the DeLorean and travel to today: Oakley’s just released the 10-track powerhouse LP Prologue, a display of craftsmanship and artistic adventurism that will surely yield its own imitators in the years ahead. Although this time it might be jackals with ill-fitting Suno prompts, rather than sample packs, who water down the genre. This is a bit fitting: Oakley’s followup to 2021’s Odyssey finds him tackling topics that include the erosion of trust and general artifice and outright lies that pervade our modern times. No doubt the onslaught of ever-unreliable AI platforms is merely the latest caustic in a world of post-truth ingredients, but at least you’ll be able to dive into this NRW Records release…