Feeling nostalgic for the ‘90s, the ‘00s, or even the ’10s? From faithful reproductions to anachronous moodboarding, the current spate of revivalism in interdisciplinary art, music and culture harks back to multiple styles and eras at once. From shoegaze to “indie sleaze,” liquid drum & bass to boho, bling and blogs, pop culture seems caught in a loop. Melodies and samples are recycled infinitely. Ghost ship websites and abandoned platforms make even the recent past seem like a distant memory.

The claim that nothing is truly new anymore feels loosely correct. Yet the texture of everyday life has changed irrevocably in the last twenty, even ten years. With the world accelerating towards an existential tipping point, we find ourselves “marching backwards into the future,” as Marshall McLuhan once said. Drawing on Anna Kornbluh’s aesthetics of immediacy, Jonathan Crary’s anti-internet polemic, and the echoes of Mark Fisher’s hauntology, London-based writer, journalist and podcaster Chal Ravens looks for signs of the present and future in our retro culture. Is a longing for the past delusional and reactionary? Or is nostalgia the only thing anchoring us to reality in an increasingly immaterial world? Are we looking for connection and identity? Or, do we just want our CD collection back?