With “Night Falls,” Pictureplane dives deep into the haunting underbelly of synthwave, delivering a single that feels both cinematic and transcendental. Set against the dusky backdrop of a rural mezcal farm in Oaxaca, Mexico—where its accompanying video was shot—the track captures a nocturnal awakening, a journey through the shadowy corridors of consciousness that leads to something profoundly spiritual.
Built around a hypnotic synth progression, “Night Falls” unfolds with deliberate tension. The rhythm pulses like a heartbeat lost in fog, its lo-fi drum machines evoking the mechanical throb of 1980s analog production while remaining unmistakably modern. Pictureplane balances structure and atmosphere with precision: each percussive hit lands with ritualistic gravity, while the synth layers shimmer and melt into one another like candlelight reflected on glass. The result is a soundscape that feels at once intimate and expansive, a nocturnal dream expanding into the supernatural.
Travis Egedy, the artist behind Pictureplane, has always blurred the line between the spiritual and the synthetic, and “Night Falls” is no exception. The vocals sit low in the mix—deep-register, ghostly, and humanly imperfect—conveying both distance and desire. The lyrics themselves act like incantations, circling around the theme of surrendering to the night, of finding illumination in darkness. This duality is where Pictureplane thrives: where distortion becomes beauty, and the artificial becomes spiritual.
Produced in his Brooklyn studio and refined with Ben Greenberg and Mike Birnbaum, the track carries the hallmarks of meticulous craftsmanship. The mix is rich with texture—foggy yet detailed, retro yet futuristic. It’s easy to hear the sonic DNA of his upcoming album Sex Distortion here: a fusion of Italo synths, industrial grit, and romantic decay. Every note feels intentional, every layer contributes to the overarching sense of mysticism that defines Pictureplane’s work.
As a standalone single, “Night Falls” stands as one of Pictureplane’s most mature and cohesive releases to date. It doesn’t chase nostalgia; it resurrects it and transforms it into something new—something alive. For a decade, Pictureplane has been redefining the emotional potential of electronic music, and with “Night Falls,” he reminds us that darkness is not emptiness, but possibility.
A high-quality release from an artist who continues to expand the boundaries of synthwave, “Night Falls” is a stunning prelude to Sex Distortion, and one we’re proud to feature on our webzine.