One of the greatest Synthwave AOR albums to have EVER been released gets a much needed repress. We already presented here in exclusive more than a decade ago Greek female singer / musician Christina Lianou aka Kristine Yay or simply ‘KRISTINE‘, and her lovely debut EP of pure ’80s sounding music.
After some singles and colaborations with other artists, the time for Kristine’s debut full length CD (and LP & cassette) arrived.
The self-titled album “Kristine” is a fascinating journey down the Eighties where classic vocals meets the synth sounds over commercial catchy melodies. Fans were asking for the reissue as the original release sold out.
So we have here a fresh 2025 CD repressing of “Kristine” (also available on vinyl, both limited) and despite these recordings date from over a decade ago, it doesn’t matters – this is timeless stuff, and a good one. As a gift, the package includes Kristine’s recent single recorded last year.
Over the last fifteen years Kristine has become one of the most famous retrowave / synthwave singers and producers out there — and certainly the most famous woman in that group — but with some of the songs from this debut album she also crossed over into mainstream radio.
Her songs such as “The Deepest Blue” and “Modern Love” are nouveau classics of ’80s retrosynth / radio rock&pop, bringing to mind as well that decade movie soundtracks. She can write terrific hooks and sing great melodies with earnest emotion.
On the album, which includes the awesome pump-AOR number “The Danger” and the beautiful “Summer Long Gone”, Kristine kicks that ’80s template into overdrive: bombastic drums, synth stabs, sharp guitars and ultra-melodious vocals.
These are the songs your synth-skeptic friends will be playing repeatedly for months, if anything because of their genetic similarities to the best of ’80s-era Heart and Pat Benatar. All tracks seems escaped from a 1984 movie or a 12” inch LP, even sometimes is added to the mix vinyl scratch emulation.
Kristine said; “I set out to make the most ’80s-like record possible — as if it came out in 1989, when stories are unfolding while the sun sets in place… where it’s always summer… that’s what I hope people get when they listen to it”.
And Kristine did it. Her singing is easily the absolute epitomy of the ’80s sound and this, his debut full album, gives her the chance to really bring the listener all the magic of an era. Kristine also play most the instruments, and wrote every song with a sensibility rarely seen from a person that was not yet born in 1985 but creates music in that style even better than musicians from that era.
“Kristine” is a stupendous example of how to do ’80s pop-rock / radio-rock AOR / synth movie-like music absolutely perfect. Kristine is much more than an artist influenced by the 1980s movement – she is the ’80s.
Her music is authentic, and call it cheesy if you want, but anyone who has been raised during these years will be transported to his teens listening to this, a sublime mix of magical ’80s sounds that are charged with powerful emotions and delivered like a number one with a bullet: straight to the heart.
A Must Have
01 – Modern Love
02 – The Danger
03 – Summer Long Gone
04 – The Rhythm Of Love
05 – Radio
06 – Wild Heart
07 – Everybody
08 – Burning Fever
09 – Heroes
10 – The Deepest Blue
11 – Sleepless Nights
12 – The City
13 – Last Left Standing
Bonus Track:
14 – Heatwave (2024 standalone single)
Written, performed & produced by KRISTINE
Lead synths on tracks 3 & 9 by Diana Gitallog
Synths on tracks 4, 7 & 8 by Sellorekt/LA Dreams
Keyboards on track 4 by Sunglasses Kid
Slap bass on track 10 and keys on tracks 11 & 12 by Highway Superstar
Lead guitar – John Bitzios
Lead guitar on track 12 – Alexandros Solomozis
KRISTINE – Kristine [2025 reissue +1 bonus], MP3+FLAC
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