Psyche - Mystery Hotel

PSYCHE are the acclaimed dark synthpop duo founded by the Huss brothers Darrin and Stephen from Edmonton in Canada. They became influenced by the likes of SOFT CELL and FAD GADGET, developing their own special brand of horror electronics; the independently released 1985 debut album ‘Insomnia Theatre’ contained the raw mechanical menace of ‘The Brain Collapses’ and was a cult success in Europe. A wider breakthrough came with their second long player ‘Unveiling The Secret’ in 1986 which included ‘The Saint Became A Lush’, a track that was to become a favourite of noted DJ Trevor Jackson who included the track on the second volume of his acclaimed ‘Metal Dance’ compilation series released by Strut Records. But it’s PSYCHE’s third album ‘Mystery Hotel’ that signalled a turn towards a classic wave sound moving towards synthpop while expanding on their Gothic EBM template with tracks like ‘Uncivilized’ and ‘Eternal’, but it also saw the departure of Stephen Huss due to illness.
This hi-energy electro punk-blues predates Depeche Mode's ‘Personal Jesus’ (which was funnily hailed as a big thing) by 2 years, though of course Suicide did that (and much more extremely) back in 1977. And it is mostly Suicide that ‘Mystery Hotel’ harks back to. While the industrial influence heard on earlier material is less pronounced, ‘Mystery Hotel’ is in many ways the darkest Psyche album. The demons are alive on tracks like ‘Wake the Flood Unconscious’, just about the slickest under-three-minutes hangover track you've ever heard, and then there's the brooding, dense marshland that is ‘The Outsider’, a synthpop track that borders on psychedelia and shimmers with a brilliance that is possibly unmatched in the Psyche catalogue, and even poppier numbers like ‘Eternal’ and ‘Insatiable’ are, at their core, still melancholia at its finest.
But the tone of this record, and the key to its brilliant longevity, is the blues influence which is sometimes hidden but sometimes, like on the opener ‘Make No Mistake’, out in the open as if to say “yeah we do blues and new wave so what”. On ‘Mystery Hotel’, Psyche take Soft Cell and The Doors, and roll them into one crazy insomniac beast. And it works so well you don't mind being one of the insomniacs yourself. Personally I think the first three Psyche albums, which I now call the “Holy Trinity of Dark Synthpop” are majorly influential and stand the test of time, even if Mystery Hotel was a little more Pop, it has some great unique synth sounds and song styles as well.

Ripped from the vinyl album to MP3 @ 320kbps 

Also find Psyche HQ here and bandcamp here for more of Psyche’s music

A1 Make No Mistake 4:08
A2 Insatiable 4:41
A3 Wake The Flood Unconscious 2:55
A4 The Outsider 4:23
A5 You're The Only One 3:25
B1 Uncivilized 3:40
B2 Ride On 2:47
B3 Dreamstreet 5:16
B4 Nocturnal Passenger 3:49
B5 Eternal 4:18

Now that you're here I thought you might like an additional single 

Psyche - Eternal/Insatiable 12'' in MP3 @ 320kbps