After a period of generic darkwave and those of a gothic disposition singing in octaves far too low, hope was provided for dark electronic pop with the emergence of A THOUSAND MAD THINGS in 2025. Another hoping to make a similar impression is Canada’s AVRO.
Now the solo project of Adam Percy, AVRO follows in the lineage of pioneering synth acts such as RATIONAL YOUTH and PSYCHE. Releasing the debut EP ‘Anatomy Act’ in 2016 and an album ‘Futuretroactivism’ in 2022 when Megan Rose was a member, the new mini-album ‘Psychopathé’ certainly has hooks, beats and well-delivered vocals when none of these attributes have been considered particularly important by purveyors of darker forms in recent times.
As the best track on this release, ‘Perfect World’ exudes this wonderful rhythmic bounce where the “air synth” factor is also high. Meanwhile on ‘Insomaniac’, there is a combination of cool IDM inflections and classic synthpop resonances within the verses before proceedings uplift in the choruses while female spoken word en Français in the middle eight add allure. The ‘Psychopathé’ title song’s cold introspection rumbles and rolls nicely with a good use of percussive dynamics.
But while ‘Blue Light, Hot Dreams’ presents an infectious dance flavour and makes good use of synthetic snaps in its backbone, its repetitious nature oversteps by going on far too long despite clocking in at a much shorter length than ‘Insomaniac’. The closing track ‘Liars in Love’ though is perhaps the less immediate and less convincing of the set.
A diagnosis on the corrosive nature of celebrity culture, there are moments to enjoy throughout ‘Psychopathé’ as it offers hints of light amongst the pathological tension.
‘Psychopathé’ is released by Warranty:Void Records and available from https://avro.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thisisavro
https://www.instagram.com/avromusic/
Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th January 2026
Follow Us!