80’s synthpop is in my blood, but I make a rule of only listening to music less than two years old. My songs strike a healthy balance, fleshed out with piano accompaniment. Anyone who took music lessons as a kid calls themselves “classically trained,” but I stuck with it, earning a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance. Immediately after graduation, I left Beethoven and Brahms behind to pursue my first musical inspiration, Depeche Mode.