Even though I do like electronic music a lot, I just can’t really get into most 1980s synthpop albums. The lyrical content of them feel too cheesy most of the time and the production just never feels influential or anything that could really amaze you. The only group I know about that really managed to prove this genre doesn’t have to be corny or lame is The Buggles (remember “Video Killed The Radio Star”?), a duo which their two albums The Age of Plastic and Adventures in Modern Recording also showed pop music in general could be far better than most listeners thought it would be. However, there is one less popular electropop act out there that are in need for much more commercial success than they already have as of now: Ejecta.

Ejecta is a duo of writer and keyboardist Leanne Macomber, also most noted for being a touring member of Neon Indian, and Joel Ford of Ford & Lopatin. First forming in 2009, what has come out of Ejecta so far is a pretty strong debut album, titled Dominae. You can expect a lot of influences from acts like Broadcast, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Chromatics and The Human League, but with better-developed lyrical content about early adulthood written by Macomber and her breathy vocal performance. While some may consider this record to be dark, there are some dancey, upbeat and lighter songs to expect here as well, including the opener “Mistress”, the disco of “Afraid of the Dark” and “Jeremiah”, and the slow-tempo “Tempest”. Some of the more serious tracks on this record would be the Western-movie-vibed “Inside” and “Small Town Girl”, and the varied-percussion-driven “Beast”.

Overall, I wouldn’t say I was immediately into Dominae, and not all of the songs here are perfect; the structuring forms of some of them were a little odd and I did have a hard time understanding what Macomber was singing here and there. But after a few listens I got into Joel Ford’s amazingly-done 1980s-infleunced synthpop production and Leanne Macomber’s writing that deserves to get more attention from those inside and outside the electronica community. They are getting there, though. “Afraid of the Dark” was played on the show The Vampire Diares, and the group have released two videos for their songs “Eleanor Lye” and, most-recently, “Silver” (Warning, both videos are NSFW). But even so, I'd beg you to give this album a few listens and share it around.