Review

Jeremiah Chiu

In Electric Time

International Anthem • 2024

What a glorious afternoon at the Synthesizer Museum! Finally, I can get my hands on the old boxes and expose myself to a cloud of electro-smog like it’s 1984—there’s probably nothing that makes the underpants worn by teenage cargo shirt offenders and fans of medium-sized monster greenhouses more moist than this. It’s great. This cosy retro warmth, caused by soufflé dust on circuit boards that have survived the Cold War and the moon landing. Converted »In Electric Time«, of course. I should mention at this point that Jeremiah Chiu, a walking modular syntheziser in human form, knows a thing or two about how this conversion rate comes about. Or it is in all the photos that the Los Angeles graphic design graduate proudly displays of himself. In spite of this (or perhaps because of it), the Vintage Synthesizer Museum invited him to give the Roland series a general overhaul. After all, even well-placed valuables belong to the cohort of high-risk patients over 50. But Dr Chiu is able to give the all-clear after a three-day round of tests: everything sounds the same as it ever did!