One-man synthwave act Color Theory released ‘This Whole Nothing’ with B-side ‘Juggernaut’ on 13 March via 11th Records.
The work of Brian Hazard (aka Color Theory) has received nearly 3 million plays across streaming platforms. Winning the grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, having three songs featured in the Just Dance video game series and two in the Rock Band video game series, plus several song placements on MTV’s The Real World, are just some of Color Theory’s notable achievements.
Raised in sunny California, Hazard was originally a pianist in his high school jazz band before he went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance. You may recognise his early work through ‘Ponytail Girl’, which sparked mass confusion when it spread like wildfire on Napster, mislabeled as a Depeche Mode b-side. The musician responded with understated humor, saying “It’s pretty neat to be mistaken for your favorite band”. On the basis of that incident, he went on to create an entire tribute album, Color Theory presents Depeche Mode. Finding the brooding undercurrents from Depeche Mode, The Cure, and Baths oddly uplifting, Color Theory pursues a style he calls “melancholy synthwave”. The resulting sound sits in close comparison to Kavinsky, The Midnight and Gunship, however, if you listen closely you’ll hear a unique style that is clearly his own.
Color Theory shares the inspiration behind his new single, “My inspiration was the spacious emptiness one experiences when the voice of the mind quiets and the world can be seen as it truly is.”
