When the Beat Knows You’re Overthinking: Van Horton’s “Entitlement” Nails the Mood
- Editorial Board
- Aug 4
- 2 min read
A synth-laced instrumental that feels like scrolling through a neon-lit arcade, chasing nostalgia you can’t quite name.
Entitlement, pulled from Van Horton’s Alive, is a new instrumental that grooves like it’s trapped in a mirrorball-lit time loop. It’s a track that doesn’t just nod to the past, it reshapes it by letting you live it.
Horton fuses retro textures with a modern sense of spatiality. Synths strike with that unmistakable Juno-60 plucks like, while guitars drift in and out like memory fragments, coated in delay and carrying a sharp, U2’s Edge-like attitude. No vocals are really needed, the track speaks through the rhythm and syncopations.
At its core, Entitlement rides a machine-driven beat: crisp drum machine pulses and hi-hats snapping on the upbeat give it a forward thrust that feels urgent but never rushed. Perhaps it seems Van Horton’s inviting you to pick a game at the arcade.
What sets the track apart is its refusal to settle on a genre. It flirts with Italo-disco but never dives into the ”glitter” that defines the genre. It channels into Moroder’s pulse but avoids pure nostalgia by weaving and adding in mono-tonals indie guitar textures, and synth layers that feel intimate and soundtrack-like, not robotic and not “loopy”.
Van Horton’s production builds a soundscape that’s more cinematic than just retro and synthwave-wave. Perhaps there are some 90’s Enya’s influences but you’re not just hearing the past, you’re walking through it, neon-lit and half-awake, in a vintage arcade at 2 AM, buzzing with some feelings you can’t quite name but know exist.
Entitlement is that unnamed feeling, polished, restless, and essential. A soundtrack for staring out the window and thinking too much. Or nothing at all… while picking what arcade game to play next.
Follow Van Horton on Instagram. And listen to “Entitlement” on all streaming platforms.
