Strength In Numbers

The Music have made an album of the sort of bass-beat pumping, distorted, glistening electro-rock that would have gone done pretty well around the time U2 first minted it with Achtung Baby on the 19th of November 1991. Unfortunately that sound had dated badly by November 20, 1991. In this day and age, such stylings are the signal that a rock band has discovered clubbing and ecstasy but hasn’t yet gotten around to swapping their amps for decks. (If it’s dance music clichés you’re looking for – ‘Get Through It’ is a straight steal of the Knightrider theme). This is all an awful shame, because a cursory listen to the lyrics shows that Robert Harvey is actually singing about some of the important things in life and there’s a lovely sincerity to his tone of voice. On ‘Idle’ for example he sings “Someone to love, somebody to talk to, I wanna be like everybody else.” Which is quite sweet, really. So despite my initial misgivings there is something organic and uncontrived in amongst this post-rave, tribal, dream-child confusion. It’s just not quite potent enough to come bursting through.