Some Great Reward – feat. Simon Kershaw | Dark Synthpop / Darkwave – Depeche Mode, Mesh, De/Vision

Описание: 00:00 – Original Version
04:45 – Clear Voltage Version

A slow electronic hymn that borrows its title from a classic and turns it into a private confession.
A late-night synth ballad that keeps the feeling close and the room dim.

ABOUT THE TRACK
“Some Great Reward” takes the 1984 album title every synthpop listener treats like a quiet landmark and folds it into something personal.
It moves with slow electronic gravity, shaped by the kind of late-night devotion early New Wave and Darkwave both learned from the 80s.
The song doesn’t imitate the era; it plays with its mythology — the feeling you remember, not the exact shade of sound.
Most of the original tracklist appears inside the lyric — only “Blasphemous Rumours” and “It Doesn’t Matter” stay outside the frame.
It’s an homage with its own pulse, built on restraint, melancholy, and the sense that the past never fully leaves the room.

THE VOCALIST – Simon Kershaw
Raised in Leeds, he sings with a grounded, low intensity — the kind that feels honest whether you want it or not.
He keeps an odd ritual of deleting voicemails before listening to them; “I prefer the imagined version,” he says.
His delivery reflects that attitude: controlled, intimate, and slightly unpredictable.

LYRICAL THEMES
The lyric weaves most of the 1984 album’s titles into one modern confession, leaving “Blasphemous Rumours” and “It Doesn’t Matter” aside.
It follows the idea of becoming “Somebody” only to dissolve whenever someone else speaks.
The emotional weight sits in pauses, flickers and the quiet shape someone leaves behind.
Earnest, ironic, and painfully aware of how memory edits the truth.

COMPOSER INSIGHT
I always saw “Some Great Reward” as the moment synthpop realised it could be devotional, mechanical and slightly indecent at the same time.
So I borrowed the titles like old passwords and rewrote them into one story — not a re-creation, more like a respectful break-in.
I didn’t chase the original sound; I chased the late-night tension those songs still carry when they hit you years too late.
If there’s a joke here, it’s that some albums keep following you long after you’ve grown out of your jacket.

SOUND & STYLE
• Core: Darkwave, Dark Synthpop
• Influences: 80s New Wave, melancholic electronic pop
• Character: slow-burning, introspective, restrained
• Sound Image: steady beat, low voice, wide pads
• Tempo/Danceability: slow pulse; late-room focus
• Suitable for: quiet nights, last trains, dim headphones

FOR FANS OF
• Depeche Mode — late-night devotion and slow emotional build
• Mesh — melodic synthpop with a quiet ache
• De/Vision — mid-tempo electronic melancholy
• Diorama — cinematic darkwave with a soft undercurrent
• Iris — polished synthpop with introspective vocals
• Empathy Test — glassy synth textures and tender gloom
• Seabound — cool electronic pulse and reflective storytelling
• Neuroticfish — dark electronic mood just below club intensity
• Rotersand — widescreen synth arrangements with emotional weight
• Covenant — calm, solemn voice over nocturnal electronics

PRESS & CRITIC VOICES
“Turns a classic album title into a private conversation in the dark.” (Neon Transit Review)
“Modern melancholy with an 80s backbone and no wasted motion.” (Electric Chapel Notes)
“A confident nod to an era that still hums under the skin of electronic music.” (Room Twenty Review)

FINAL NOTE
A slow, dark synth ballad built on deep bass, wide pads and an unhurried pulse — more for late rooms than the floor.
The voice stays close and controlled, leaving emotion in the quiet space between beats.
It rewards stillness rather than movement, leaning fully into the after-hours mood.
A small reward, quietly delivered.
#darkwave #synthpop #depechemode #darkelectronic #coldwave #newwave #electronicmusic #synthmusic #darkpop #80smusic #darkballad #alternativemusic

LYRICS
SOMETHING TO DO
In a room
Without reply

PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE
You said flat
As if naming
A quiet ruin

Your breath paused
Between syllables
The only place
That felt alive

LIE TO ME
But leave the edges empty
So nothing fills
The silence

SOME GREAT REWARD
Was never a prize
Only a flicker
I saw once
In your eyes

IF YOU WANT
You can call
I will answer
Like a dim light
Losing voltage

STORIES OF OLD
Crumble softly
In my hands

MASTER AND SERVANT
Turned slowly
Without heat
Without meaning

SOMEBODY
Was what I tried to be
But the outline
Kept dissolving
Each time you spoke

SOME GREAT REWARD
Reduced itself
To a shadow
On your voice
And the way
You looked away

PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE
But what remains
Is the quiet shape
You left
In the dark