The first thing to know about ProCon — the local synth-pop-punk act, consisting of life- and music-making partners Count Feedback and Countess Christsmasher — is that their project name sheds a lot of light.

“I hated our name until recently, but it really does embody who we are — the dark and the light,” says the Countess, speaking from the couple’s home studio. “I definitely am the ‘pro’ and Count is definitely the ‘con.’ He’s a realist whereas I’ve always got my head in the clouds. It’s a good balance.”

As is the duo’s shared palette of influences, ranging from punk and metal to new-wavers such as Devo and electronic faves like Kraftwerk. Both members of ProCon have been mainstays in Toronto’s rock community. The Count played in punk and indie bands such as Squirrel, and the Countess is a professionally-trained opera singer who debuted her powerful voice in the all-woman project Rocket Tits.

After meeting through a mutual friend, the two formed Helens in the mid-’90s, writing and gigging their way through numerous band formations until their desire to delve deeper into electronics whittled the project to the core of two. In 2003, the pair wrote and recorded a sizeable amount of new material, dubbing themselves ProCon only when they were ready to release their self-titled album in 2005.

“I think it was pretty obviously a ‘band-in-transition’ album. It was us getting a grasp on our studio and songwriting,” offers Ms. Christsmasher. “I’m really proud of that album, but recording our new one, Kingmaker, was the first time that we could sit down and logically write songs that felt more related. It’s way more cohesive. All of the mixing and touring that we did in between really made a difference.”

ProCon recorded Kingmaker over a year-and-a-half period, breaking to create remixes for acts including Kids on TV, Stinkmitt, Monosurround, Duran Duran and industrial band Mindless Self Indulgence (M.S.I.), with whom they also toured.

Inspired by unicorns, velvet paintings, party people, Blade Runner, election campaigns and current artists like Goose and Midnight Juggernauts, Kingmaker is a loose concept album and unquestionably ProCon’s strongest songwriting to date. Lead single “Delia” immediately became a blog and fan favourite.

“That was the first song we recorded for this one,” shares the Countess. “We’d watched an amazing documentary, called The Alchemists of Sound, that featured Delia Derbyshire. Her big claim to fame is the Doctor Who theme, but she did a lot of music while working with tape loops and found sounds.” The Countess explains that Derbyshire was prolific until 1973, when she became disillusioned with electronic music and synthesizer technology, quitting the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop to become a radio operator in the north of England. In the ’90s, Derbyshire was persuaded by Pete Kember (Sonic Boom) of Spacemen 3 to return to public life. She started playing again, but died soon after.

“One of the quotes from her was that she was afraid she’d always be forgotten, and that affected me profoundly. Honestly, we have very little recollection of actually writing that song — the melody just came through me. It’s a pretty special tune. I’m still floored by it.”

The song — complete with accompanying remixes by producers including Barletta, Cozmic Cat and Monosurround — showcases the pretty, melodic and introspective side of ProCon. Other tracks on Kingmaker, like “NeonCity” and “Lunar Hammer,” are much more aggressive, while the standout, “Your Fight Tonight” — featuring heaps of saxophone and the guest vocals of Blue Peter’s Paul Humphrey — is deliciously new-wave.

“It was a very insulated process, making this album,” admits Christsmasher. “Nobody heard anything. We sat here on these tracks and thought ‘Well, we’re either really awesome or really fucking crazy.’”

Once they did share Kingmaker with close friends and industry peeps, Florida-based label Ginchopolis snapped up the licence. The Oct. 30 release party and live ProCon show at Wrongbar promises “A good, solid ass-kicking with a velvet boot,” and sets the duo up for a pair of shows in New York, to be followed by an extensive North American tour come January.

For now, ProCon performs as two, playing live “as much as humanly possible” while utilizing a battery of synths, drum machines, guitars, effects pedals, vocoders and a laptop. Let it be known, however, that they are actively seeking someone to play percussion, sax, keyboards and provide backup vocals.

Christsmasher encourages, “If you can do any three of the above, give the Con a call.”