German production trio plus vocalist Sophia Larsson Ocklind. Top 3 material in their homeland no less. Formed in 1993, the production trio has been responsible for the likes of DJ Rush and Moonraker and were voted ‘best newcomers’ and ‘critics choice’ in the 2001 German Dance Awards .
Some will assert they’ve more in common with the old, run-of-the-mill continental dance pop than anything like Ladytron, Fischerspooner or Adult – but this would seriously ignore the sheer playfulness of the mix. It’s pop, yes, but with the production’s ability to throw in a neat analogue hook with some crazy synthcore ambient signatures it means there’s an attention to detail that continental-dance pop simply doesn’t have (‘Jean’, ‘Neighbour’)
The kooky and eccentric ‘Missy Queen’s Gonna Die’ may be the one that has stirred up folk’s attention on the club circuit, but ‘Day of Mine’ (‘Ludicrous Idiots’) provides the kind of faultlessly tailored, intelligent sexbeat not heard since the glory days of Roisin Murphy and Moloko.
The monotone likeness to the likes of Ladytron becomes more obvious on stylophone standout track, ‘Changes’ – which is the closest thing here to anything like recent electroclash anthem, ‘Seventeen’ – and its arguably the only point that the album seriously embraces the necessary minimalism of ‘true’ electroclash (‘Sixpack’ is close – but has too many house inflections to be that credible an example, same thing with ‘Lookalikes’, which could be anyone from Whigfield to Laurie Anderson).
There are moments of inventiveness and originality here – but the current (if subsiding) lure of euroclash still seems to be holding them back. Once they accept their more general clubland strengths, there’s sure to be no limits to what they might achieve.