13.

Conan Gray

Found Heaven

We’re in the midst of a major 80s synthpop revival, and I’m a little surprised about how much I’m into it given I was never especially big on the genre at the time. It came a little early for me, although I guess I caught the tail end of it (mostly via Top of the Pops) before the 90s hit and all I wanted were guitars. In this context, Found Heaven occupies the same ‘space’ that Nation of Language’s fantastic Strange Disciple did last year, keeping me topped up with a fresh dose of this new retro side interest that I’ve unexpectedly acquired. Found Heaven certainly isn’t as good as Strange Disciple (#2 in 2023), but it’s nonetheless a great glam-synth record. And it comes from an unlikely source: a Texan former child-YouTuber turned baby-bopper idol. For me, Gray’s first two albums are both samey (if, in fairness, actually quite good) contemporary sub-Swift pop. This third record is a significant – and very self-conscious – change of course. That it’s this good, from a standing start in this genre, is to Gray’s immense credit (worth noting that he has a songwriting credit, sole or partial, for every track here). It’s all relatively simple synthpop, but full of top tier hooks. There’s also a healthy sprinkling of ballads to keep things varied. Lyrically, Found Heaven explores timeless themes of love and loss, but with a Gen Z slant that’s somewhat anachronistic to its musical approach (I’m not sure anyone in 1985 was especially worried about ‘toxicity’). The end result is a nice blend of old and new, which feels like a fresh twist on a classic genre. It’s not a record that tears up any rulebooks, but it uses some of the old ones (40+ years old…) extremely well.