Electro-pop from this London-based duo comprising Canadian vocalist Lisa Lorenz and Andy Leary. Andy, as part of the band Relation was responsible for the brilliant record Fear of Night that shares a nostalgia for shimmering 80s club-pop, though there’s a slight hop forward in time to early-90s dance too especially on the Madonna-like English As A Foreign Language with its strong chorus and William Orbit style production flourishes.
Unfortunately, whereas Relation managed to really nail what worked about music of the era it seemed to be embracing this EP flounders as polished but ersatz and a little too lacking in memorable tunes. This four track revolves around the titular tune Signs which is included in both radio edit and full length versions, whilst its poised synth signature is somewhat catchy and regal, the track as a whole – in both iterations – lumbers around, falling fouling of the material nature of a lot of electro-pop that can leave the listener staring at an impentrable yet well made piece of work. It’s like staring at a mirrored artwork that reflects nothing.
Every Now and Then has strummed acoustic guitar against a staid, processed beat and Lorenz’s soft voice stating ‘I can’t let go, I can’t proceed’ with peculiar detachment. There’s warmth to her backing vocals on the chorus of ‘It never will be’, but the track feels more like a stark construct than an enjoyable composition and this statement is true of this record as a whole. Perhaps a little faithful to an era and a genre that will all too often guilty of sounding empty.
[Rating:2]
