Album Review: Galvany Street, Booka Shade (featuring Craig Walker)

A decade before their debut as Booka Shade, 2004’s acclaimed Memento, Frankfurt-based house duo Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger had already released two early ‘90s new wave albums under the moniker Planet Claire (named after a B52s song). Now they’ve gone back to those beat-driven basics. Made in collaboration with former Power Of Dreams/Archive frontman Craig Walker, and mainly mixed by Mark Plati (Bowie, Prince, The Cure), their sixth album Galvany Street marks a welcome shift.

There are other collaborators – GusGus’ Urdur, Australian Yates and Daniel Spencer – but it’s the Dubliner’s distinctive voice that dominates these ten melancholy tracks. As downbeat as it often is, you could still dance to almost every song here. Albeit somewhat mournfully. This isn’t a cheerful record, but it’s certainly a rhythmic one.

Daniel Spencer delivers some old-school ambient electronica on ‘Broken Skin’, and Australian Yates excels on the up-tempo ‘Peak’, but Walker is the predominant vocalist. As emotionally raw as some of his lyrics are (“I am the loneliest boy on the planet/ I am the loneliest soul on the street”), the main feel is that of ‘80s synth and ‘90s Madchester – with a whiff of The Weeknd to give it that contemporary touch.

This is far from a typical Booka Shade album. Short, bittersweet, melodically rich, and yet somehow familiar, there’s much here to hook you in and please your ears. They’re performing live with Craig Walker at Forbidden Fruit next month; it should be quite some show.