In the past few years, pop has seen a dramatic increase in global interest, but few of the international recording artists I’ve heard in recent months have given it the spin ViennaCC is with his new single “Online Love” at the moment. Grinding industrial influences aren’t forced to the surface in this piece but instead made to simmer and cultivate through a carefully developed lyrical narrative in the song referencing both punk and pop aesthetics rather liberally. The instrumentation itself is alternative rock done right, but in all fairness, trying to establish a proper genre branding for ViennaCC’s sound isn’t nearly as easy as falling in love with his unique style of experimentation is.

You can’t make “Online Love” work as well as it does without the moderate daggers our main man issues with his guitar, and when interwoven with ViennaCC’s natural vocal abilities, we get a smoky harmony in this song that could easily forge the centerpiece for an entire album. It’s evident from the start that this is a musician more than well-versed in pop songwriting, but he isn’t sticking to the rulebook exclusively. With a basic structure to act as a template, this guy can colorize the music with as much bravado as he sees fit (and believe me, he does on every attempt).

This mix gives me the feeling that a hands-off production style was critical to delivering “Online Love” as authentically as possible, which isn’t to suggest that ViennaCC is somehow shortchanging us on pop polish in this performance. Perhaps it’s just not possible to give us the same swaggering charisma from an Austria-based singer without getting as barebones with the finishing as he does here, but all the same, we never have to question if another recipe would have been successful for this track – the version we’re gifted with is more than tasty enough.

The rhythm section does its part to give ViennaCC a nice groove to bounce his melodic wizardry off of, and I would even go so far as to say that his dedication to the beat is as important a component of the hook as anything we’re getting from the synth and vocal. There were no slackers in the studio when this song was recorded, and whether you’re new to this player or have been keeping up with him since he dropped his first breakout single, that’s easy to recognize.

Anyone who has been left longing for a bit of simplistic pop wonderment filtered through the lens of new-era pop will especially appreciate what ViennaCC and his stylishness have pulled off in “Online Love,” and the entirety of his most recent efforts as well. This song makes the record a can’t-miss release for alternative rock buffs and indie devotees of all stripes, but if it can connect with a college radio-based audience over the summer, I think it’s going to launch ViennaCC into a new plane of respect from one side of the Atlantic to the other. In its complete state, this is a track that tells us a lot about the artist and his intentions moving ahead.

Garth Thomas