Following 2023’s Time’s Arrow, the Liverpool synth-pop band fronted by Helen Marnie, now a trio, return with substantial 16-track eighth LP that combines simplicity of chord progressions with rich textures, styles retro and futuristic with classic, catchy pop melodies. Their first since the departure of founding member Reuben Wu, it still retains the quality that has kept them influential since their inception at the turn of the millennium and with Grammy Award-winning producer Jim Abbis at the controls, there’s a sound reminiscent of their 2002 dance-oriented record Light & Magic. So to a certain extent it’s a case of going back to go forward in an album packed with quality but also possibly strength length a repetitiveness, though the effect remains mesmeric and danceable. Opener and lead single I Believe in You is a gentle euphoric rave-ish banger with a series of poetic similes and that repeated line, such as: “Like, like a sea of falling stars / Like a sky of silver birds / Like a carnival of souls / Oh I believe in you.” Kingdom Undersea has that syncopated stomp reminiscent of the early 90s, such as Happy Mondays’ favourite Wrote for Luck. Meanwhile I See Red is more of a disco ball handclap with a bit of throwback to New Order or Pet Shop Boys. A Death In London captures the acid house rhythm, but with a darker undercurrent with sleek, noir synths and saxophone solo, sounding a little like an old-school sci-fi or police TV series theme. Caught in the Blink of an Eye is another standout - catchy and retro, with another catchy refrain and vivid scenes you might imagine in a car passing through the cityscape: “Daylight fades across the arcade / Caught in the blink of an eye / Sunburned stray in the headlamp glare / Ghostwriters of their lives.”
A wash of rave and nostalgia continues consistently all the way through to closer A Life In London, which takes a questioning look at, when playing in a band, how there are always pressures to move down south: “Everything changes when you don’t take that train / Stars realign to the contours of terrain / Cards fall, chaos plays its hand / You learn to play piano, you go and join a band / New parameters are drawn like swords against the past / Through elysian fields soaked in possibility / A permanent summer invoked at will / And finally the greatest gift there is / Why give yourself away / Why give it all away / Why give yourself away / For a life in London.” Out on Nettwerk Music.
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