If ever there was another illustration of an album needing remixes, Hit The Light by Ten Fe throws itself gleefully into the picture. Whilst the recent rework of ‘Twist Your Arm‘ by Roman Flugel is a thrilling and brooding beast, this un-mucked about with collection drifts past without any great excitement. Ticks the solar-pop boxes beloved by bands such as NZCA Lines but without that it. It’s the sound of the ’80s but bypassing the frisson of Soft Cell and the like and going straight to dreary, more mature culprits.
All of which is very curious, given the pedigree. Production in Berlin by Ewan Pearson is always going to lead to excitable expectation. Great DJ, great work on Soma Records, great work with Depeche Mode amongst a slew of others. Quite how the duo of Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan have managed to produce such a flaccid record along with such talent is almost impressive.
That’s not to say Hit The Light is terrible, it’s just not terribly good. A not uncommon phrase that’s not meant to be unkind, the opposite, in fact. These boys can play, they can choose the right people to work with – there’s no excuse offering up a record that is just fine. No excuse at all.
There are highlights. ‘Follow‘ comes across like an OMD b-side, but better than that sounds. It’s anthemic, for sure – a lot of the album is – and has bouncy crowd written all over it. Electro(ish)-pop for a big space with a sing-along chorus. Epic soaring guitars and synths that will appeal to epic soaring fans. As is so often the case, aiming directly for the peak misses out the middle and bottom, without which things become a touch hollow. It’s just incredibly hard to have any kind of reaction to songs like ‘Elodie‘. Any kind of reaction beyond, “well, there we go then“. Poppy, a bit serious, make a nice video, call the festival booking agents.
In amongst all this drabbery, frustratingly, there are hints of greatness. ‘Twist Your Arm‘ has dubbed-out piano, a prowling bassline and, this time, the anthemic vocal actually works. It has a roughness along with the spit and polish. It’s recognisably part of the album but has an almost gospel-vibe as well as a solid thump; echoes of Primal Scream when working with Andrew Weatherall. ‘Don’t Forget‘ pulses along in such an appealing and groovy way that one can even excuse the daft guitar solo, a feat in itself. Punctuating eleven tracks with moments of glee feels like a kick in the critical chops. Such is the way with some records – the successes within them only succeed in highlighting the vapidity of the rest.
A great shame. High hopes based on one single remix. In a bid to create a big sound to fill stadiums, Ten Fe seem to have forgotten to put in any substance. Needless to say, Hit The Light will no doubt be massive but this is deeply mundane stuff overall. Heartfelt, emotive, competent…designed by committee. Back to the drawing board. The talent is there, so is the lowest common denominator.
