THE STORY NEVER STOPPED.
You just weren't hearing all of it.
Music written decades ago and never properly recorded. Songs that never got their turn. Music created through the years between. And a current band carrying the story forward.
MUSIC
MUSIC — DIRECT FROM SYNAPSE
Listen directly from Synapse.
Listen directly from Synapse.
WATCH SYNAPSE
THE CREATIVE CENTER
SONGS FIRST. CATEGORIES SECOND.
THE SONG TELLS US WHAT IT NEEDS.
Synapse works from the composition outward. The song determines the musical language, not the category.
“One of the most original and well-conceived”
Michael Upledger
Creative Loafing Music Editor
1993
From Upledger’s 1993 recommendation of Synapse for Lollapalooza.
THIS DIDN’T START YESTERDAY.
THEN
Synapse emerged in Tampa Bay in the early 1990s, building a following through live performances, regional radio, press coverage, and the Whips-N-Chains EP.
In 1993, Creative Loafing named Synapse its Critics’ Choice for Best Alternative Band of the Bay.
THE YEARS BETWEEN
The public version of Synapse eventually became quiet.
The creative process did not.
Songs kept being written while life, relationships, family, grief, technology, change, and time continued adding material to the story.
NOW
Original recordings are being completed and mastered.
Songs that never got their turn are being developed. And the current band is in the room creating what happens next.
SYNAPSE IS NOT RETURNING.
SYNAPSE IS CONTINUING.
1993 — CREATIVE LOAFING
Critics’ Choice: Best Alternative Band of the Bay
One piece of the documented history behind the current Synapse story.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
THE PAST IS EVIDENCE.
Synapse has a real documented history. Press, correspondence, photographs, flyers, reviews, and other surviving artifacts help show where the story has already been.
The archive tells us where the signal has been. It doesn't tell us where it has to go next.
NOW
THE PEOPLE IN THE ROOM.
MICHAEL “SAWYER” SAWYER
Drums
A longtime musical relationship and rhythmic anchor whose friendship, history, and rehearsal space are part of the current Synapse chapter.
SHAWN BRAY
Vocals / Songwriting / Music
Shawn is the songwriting and vocal throughline of Synapse and remains the creative center of the project.
ALEX ALGARIN
Guitar / Bass
An original Synapse member whose relationship with Shawn and the project reaches back to the earliest chapter.
JACE BRAY
Keys / Backing Vocs / Production & Mastering
Jace became an important bridge between the Synapse archive, contemporary mastering and production, technology, performance, and what comes next.
HOW THIS ROOM CAME TOGETHER
Synapse was never assembled from a casting call. The people in this room arrived through years of music, friendship, shared history, and the kind of relationships that survive long stretches of life.
Shawn and Alex go back to the earliest chapter of Synapse. Sawyer entered the story later, but the musical relationship and friendship endured long after the band went quiet publicly. When Synapse began moving again, those connections were still there. Today, the band rehearses in Sawyer’s home, making the continuation both musical and deeply personal
Jace came into the picture from another direction. He went backward into the Synapse archive, digging through old recordings, DATs, equipment, and songs that had been sitting unheard for years. His curiosity helped bring that material back into the room, and his work in keyboards, production, and mastering created a bridge between the original Synapse and what the band is becoming now.
What exists today isn’t a recreation of an old lineup. It’s a group of people with real history, real affection for one another, and enough trust to let the music keep changing.
Synapse is not returning. Synapse is continuing.
WATCH — DIRECT FROM SYNAPSE
ENTER THE ROOM.
Synapse is preparing to bring the current chapter into the room. Live dates will appear here as they are confirmed.
Live dates coming.
THE CONVERSATION
WHAT DID YOU HEAR?
Not “Did you like it?”
Listen first. Then tell us what arrived.
Every listener brings their own history, associations, emotions, and experience into a song. There isn't one required interpretation. We want to know what you heard.