Dylan Ettinger has already made a virtue of switching up his influences from record to record.

The dystopian New Age Outlaws looked to the astral synthscapes of the late 1970s; follow-up ‘Lion Of Judah’ borrowed heavily from dub. On the forthcoming Lifetime Of Romance, Ettinger turns to synth-pop proper. We’ve already been gifted the Cure-esque ‘Wintermute’; now, as No Fear Of Pop note, we have ‘Black And Blue’, the final track on Dylan Ettinger’s upcoming full-length Lifetime Of Romance.

‘Black And Blue’ marries a processed hook that could only be described as ‘dorky’ with a fairly off-colour vocal performance. There are some very pretty blushes of synth, but there’s definitely an air of Dan Deacon wackiness throughout. The framework of a delicate pop song is there, but there’s also something distinctly bruised about the whole affair. In many ways, the track shows the Indiana artist at his most vulnerable: with his vocals out front and the conceptual safety net pulled away, Ettinger is left to sink or swim on the strength of his songwriting.

Lifetime Of Romance is due on March 20 through Not Not Fun.