Fridae

The music of The New Division takes you right back to the early '80s and straight onto the dancefloor. On their new album, titled "Shadows, the Southern California outfit neatly combines retro-styled new wave synths with modern-day dancefloor stylings that are inspired by trance and progressive house. It's as if the The Killers met up with Depeche Mode to cover The Joy Division that is remixed by Tiesto.

The New Division is the Riverside, CA quartet of John Kunkel (vox), Brock Woolsey (guitars), Janzie (sequencing) and Mark Michalski (synths). The group started out as a college dorm room project for songwriter John Kunkel back in 2005 when he began experimenting with synthesizers after being heavily influenced by the sounds of Joy Division, New Order and Depeche Mode. 

Over the course of the next couple of years, the group turned from a one-man project to a four person alt-pop band. The New Division started playing in and around campus, which garnered them more and more local notoriety. For the past few years, the group has continued to fine tune their sound and write new music. 

After releasing singles and a few EPs, The New Division independenly released their debut LP, "Shadows" last week. Muscially, the album features the group's lush, dancy textures that are the backdrop for the darker undertones that drives the group's lyricism. "It's a dark, kinda indie danceable album that touches upon a lot of serious themes but not in an incredibly serious way," the group explains in a video EPK.

The album includes the track "Shallow Play" which is a nod to Joy Division's iconic 1979 new wave stomer "Shadow Play" that was later covered by The Killers. Check out the album's lead track "Opium" to get a taste for The New Division's music that is retro in its origin, yet forward thinking in its execution.

Opium by The New Division