Radiology: Synthesis

By Katlyn Mortimer

It was a breezy and bright Saturday in September, and I was slightly hungover and power-walking to Rector’s Cafe so as not to add any extra time to the 10 minutes I was already running late. Sat inside the cafe around a table laden with laptops and lattes were Lila Rucci, Hearing Aid’s deputy editor in chief, with our interviewees Alexia Heasley, my co-editor in chief, and St Andrews drummer extraordinaire, Ewan Briggs. The latter two are also the hosts of the STAR radio show Synthesis. The four of us came together for an interview, ahead of the pair’s final year hosting the show that has been running since 2023, and new-found ambitions to win big at this year’s STAR awards.

Thanks to a broken mixer, St Andrews Radio shows have yet to commence for the semester, but the duo are no strangers to hosting, as Alexia has been running Synthesis since her first year at university. After attending STAR’s infamous bonfire social in freshers week, she and roommate Freda applied to host a show together – “it just happened to work out.”

Originally called ‘Superfluity’, Synthesis was instead what the roommates reckoned would make a great name for a synth band. But when it was time to select a name, Synthesis was also what came to mind for their show. The concept of Synthesis surrounds playing songs which have a connection to the last, often beginning with a song which has a connection to the previous week’s events, or with some relevance to the lives of the hosts. Briggs offered the example of ‘It Had to Be You’, which features in the 1989 rom-com When Harry Met Sally… , which “synthesised” into ‘Chicago’ by Sufjan Stevens. Why? “Because the movie is set in Chicago.” Easy.

Once Heasley’s original co-host left for her year studying abroad, she was all alone in the studio; “I was kind of just talking to myself for an hour […] Playing music with no links and forcing my parents to listen to it. But Ewan started as a guest.”

“Yeah, and then I got promoted,” he added.

But Synthesis isn’t the only musical endeavour for the pair: Briggs can often be found behind a drumkit in various student bands, and Heasley has recently risen through the ranks to a position as Editor-In-Chief of Hearing Aid Magazine (and we are partial to a spot of shameless self-promotion). When asked about her history with music journalism, she said that the magazine came as a haven of expression, with the freedom to write about music without being questioned on its importance or relevance to St Andrews.

When asked who their dream guest would be, Briggs offered Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem – “He would have some crazy picks.”

I then asked “If you could only pick one album to play on the show, where each song flows well into the next, what would you pick?”

Briggs immediately offered up Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz, making this the first of several times the English rapper was mentioned during our conversation.

“It flows really well. For some albums, the songs can be in any order, but I think if you changed the order then the album just wouldn’t be the same.”

“I would probably pick To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. I wrote an article about it last year as the obvious example of a concept album, so I think I could also explain the connections between its songs and history”, said Heasley.

For many, starting a radio show is a passion project, regardless of who is listening.

“I don’t know how many listeners we get, I’ve never checked,” said Heasley. “But my friend who lives in Edinburgh once sent me a picture of his entire flat huddled around a laptop listening to the show. That was cool.”

The pair want to continue the show as they have done, with getting more friends involved in their final year at university. And, once the mixer is fixed, you can tune in on Mondays at 12pm.

“We’re really excited to get started. This is the start of the campaign for the STAR Awards.”

Hearing Aid’s Four Favourite Albums with Synthesis

Alexia’s picks

-       Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You – Big Thief

-       In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel

-       The Glow, Pt.2 – The Microphones

-       Either/Or – Elliott Smith , Heaven or Las Vegas – Cocteau Twins (it’s a tie between the two)

Ewan’s picks

-       Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles

-       Vessel – Twenty One Pilots

-       Sometimes I Might Be Introvert – Little Simz

-       Piano In The Background – Duke Ellington