Dreamwave

Dreamwave is the softer, romantic branch of synthwave, built from warm analog synthesizer chords, gentle arpeggios, muted drum machines and wistful melodies that evoke coastal drives, palm trees and late-summer evenings. Where outrun stresses speed and aggression, dreamwave favours nostalgia and tenderness, often adding breathy vocals or saxophone and echoing the mood of 1980s film romance and Miami imagery. Acts such as *Miami Nights 1984*, *FM Attack* and *Timecop1983* shaped the style in the early 2010s, and *Electric Youth*'s "A Real Hero" carried its sound to a global audience through the film #Drive# soundtrack era.