QUARANTINE SUNSET - Covid Inspired Synthwave (2020 - Current)
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
There are bands that define an era. Then there are bands that accidentally become inseparable from one. When the world shut its doors in early 2020, few people had heard of Quarantine Sunset. By the time restrictions finally lifted, their neon-soaked synths, melancholy melodies and nostalgic visuals had become the unofficial soundtrack to an entire generation stuck indoors. Born during isolation but sounding like they belonged on a rain-soaked Miami highway in 1987, Quarantine Sunset captured a feeling everyone recognised but struggled to describe. Loneliness...Hope... And the strange comfort of watching another sunset from the same living room window.
The Beginning (2020)
Producer Elliot Hayes and vocalist Maya Brooks had planned to collaborate on a single synthwave track after both tours were cancelled in March 2020.
Working from opposite ends of the country, they shared files through cloud storage, never meeting in person for almost a year. Their first demo, Six Feet Away, was uploaded to Bandcamp with no promotion whatsoever. Within a week it had gone viral across Reddit, YouTube playlists and late-night Twitch streams.
Signed to Stay Home Records
Independent electronic label Stay Home Records signed the duo just three months later. Founder Alex Mercer recalls: "Everyone was trying to write the first lockdown anthem. Quarantine Sunset weren't. They were writing songs about missing ordinary life. That's what made them different." The label quickly pressed a limited run of translucent blue vinyl. Every copy sold out in under twenty-four hours.
Social Distance (2020)
Their debut album arrived in October 2020.
Its artwork became iconic: two silhouetted figures sitting on neighbouring apartment rooftops, separated by an empty street beneath a neon orange sunset.
The music blended shimmering analogue synths, gated drums and dreamy vocals with subtle references to empty motorways, video calls and endless evenings indoors.
Track Listing
· Six Feet Away
· Flatten The Curve
· Balcony Lights
· Essential Journey
· Tiger King Blues
· Empty Highways
· Sourdough Dreams
· Zoom Fatigue
· The Last Roll of Toilet Paper
· Sunset at 6PM
The Live Streams
Unable to tour, Quarantine Sunset embraced livestreaming before most artists had figured it out. Every Friday evening they performed from Elliot's spare bedroom beneath a wall of CRT televisions and flickering neon tubes. Fans tuned in from around the world, sharing photos of homemade cocktails and LED-lit living rooms. The chat became its own little community. To this day, longtime fans still refer to themselves as The Night Shift.
After The Curve (2022)
Rather than making another lockdown album, the duo explored what happened after everything reopened. The songs became brighter. The tempos faster. The nostalgia even stronger. Tracks like Green Light, Open Again, Last Mask Standing and Summer Without Distance showed a band refusing to be defined by the pandemic that inspired them. Critics praised the record for avoiding cliché. Retro Future magazine called it: "An album about learning how to leave the house again."
The Tour
By the time touring resumed in 2022, demand was enormous. The After The Curve Tour sold out across Europe. Stage production featured:
· Neon palm trees
· VHS visual loops
· Retro arcade cabinets
· CRT television walls
· Animated city skylines
· Hundreds of glowing sunset gradients
Fans were encouraged to wear pastel colours, vintage trainers and sunglasses regardless of the venue. It quickly became one of the most recognisable aesthetics in modern synthwave.
Where are they now?
Quarantine Sunset continue to release music independently while producing for other electronic artists. Although the pandemic that inspired them has faded into history, their music remains tied to a unique moment in time. Listening back today feels like opening an old photo album. You remember exactly where you were. Exactly what you were feeling. And exactly how strange the world had become.
Legacy
Plenty of artists wrote songs about the pandemic. Quarantine Sunset wrote songs about how it felt. They captured the quiet moments between the headlines: the empty roads, the glowing laptop screens, the evening walks, and the hope that one day normal life would return. For a band born out of isolation, they ended up bringing an awful lot of people together.
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