New Romantics release album “NO LIFE”
New Romantics
Knoxville, TN
Synth Pop, New Wave, Post-Punk, Punk
Albums:
The New Romantics (2023, Gezellig Records)
NO LIFE (2025, Gezellig Records)
New Romantics is the work of Brandon Biondo, a musician from Pomona, California, now based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The project began as a recording experiment and took shape through live performance, where the songs began to speak to one another, forming a clear tone and direction.
What emerged is a collection bound by mood as much as sound. Rooted in synth pop and post-punk, the music carries a darker undercurrent, both in atmosphere and in what it says. These songs don’t chase nostalgia, but they live in that space where memory and emotion blur. They feel familiar, as if they’ve always been there quietly waiting to be found.
On the second album, No Life, these themes come to a head. The songs move with intention; they belong together. If the self-titled debut played like a compilation of imagined bands, No Life is the fully realized form of what Biondo has been shaping live over the past two years. It’s physical music, built on arpeggiated basslines, heavy drums, with gated reverb and unstable pads drifting throughout.
There’s a clear lineage in No Life. The influence of Depeche Mode runs deep, but it’s filtered through a harder, more industrial lens. Sampled metal clanks and hammering leads cut through the mix like machinery in motion, a sound that permeates the entire record. There are moments of EBM tension too-most clearly on “Games,” a minimal yet emotional track about the dynamics of control in a relationship, and how easily you can lose yourself to someone else. “Love Is Not Enough” follows that emotional thread to its breaking point, driven by the unmistakable sound of the Simmons SDSV toms and a crescendo that feels like the final scene of a film, the slow-motion ending of the lead character.
No Life releases digitally and on “Loveless” Pink Vinyl on December 13th via Gezellig Records. Pre-order is available now from Gezellig.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/new_romantics_knox
