In the shadowed corners of contemporary synthwave and darkwave, where neon nostalgia meets raw emotional vulnerability, French producer Eleanor Idlewood continues to carve out a distinctive space with her latest EP release, Bennett Tell Me. Dropped on May 28, this five-track follow-up to her 2025 single expands the mournful narrative of Marty grappling with the absence of his lover Bennett, delivering a compact yet immersive sonic journey that clocks in at under 17 minutes. Idlewood, a Bordeaux-based electronic artist and self-described 80s devotee, handles every element here—recording, mixing, mastering, and even artwork—resulting in a deeply personal, auteur-driven project.
The EP opens with the Edit of the title track, a brooding minimal synth piece that sets the tone immediately. Pulsing arpeggios and icy basslines underpin Idlewood’s smooth, deliberate vocals as they confess heartache with quiet intensity. It’s a clear spiritual descendant of Depeche Mode’s Music for the Masses era, blending cinematic melancholy with dancefloor-ready grooves. The Extended Mix stretches the same bones into a hypnotic late-night drive, allowing the layers of reverb-drenched synths to breathe and envelop the listener in a fog of longing.
Standouts include “Midnight’s Thoughts (Reprise),” which deepens the introspective mood with ethereal pads and fragmented melodies that evoke sleepless nights staring at empty screens, and the poignant “Missing Call (Interlude),” a brief but devastating ambient vignette of unanswered longing. Closing on “Benedict” (the Side B track), the EP reaches a cathartic peak—darker, more urgent beats colliding with sweeping synth leads that suggest both rage and reluctant acceptance.
Idlewood’s strength lies in her storytelling through circuitry. Much like her previous synthwave single “The Roommates,” this EP weaves personal and fictional narratives with emotional nuance, exploring themes of grief, queer love, digital disconnection, and memory in a world that feels both futuristic and achingly retro. Her production is sleek yet never sterile: warm analog imperfections peek through the digital sheen, giving the music a lived-in humanity that elevates it beyond mere pastiche.
While the brevity of an EP means some ideas tantalize without fully unfolding, Bennett Tell Me succeeds as a cohesive mood piece—perfect for late drives, dimly lit rooms, or quiet reflection. In an era overflowing with retro revivalism, Idlewood stands out for her commitment to narrative depth and sonic craft. This isn’t background synth; it’s an invitation into someone else’s sorrow, rendered in luminous pulses of light and shadow. Fans of heartfelt electronic storytelling will find much to cherish here. Eleanor Idlewood is quietly building one of the most compelling catalogs in underground electronic music. Highly recommended.
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