Album review: Prinzhorn Dance School - Clay Class

No, no - leave your dancing shoes in the cupboard. Single-minded, stripped-back art-rock defines the sophomore record from this Brighton boy-girl duo.

For the uninitiated who may have missed PDS’ 2007 debut, this record will not help you become don of the dancefloor.

This stripped-down duo produce something closer to coolly diffident art-rock than anything else. Think The XX without the warmth and you’re partway there - the thin snap of drumskin on opener Happy In Bits is a pointer for the various stream-of-consciousness proclamations that follow.

Here Tobin Prinz and Suzi Horn pick up where they left off, making music without using any effects - although some might say it’s full of affectation.

Such a dogmatic approach would be almost threadbare by the album’s midpoint, Crisis Point, were it not for the Brighton duo’s knack for a certain poetic lyrical bleakness.

At its best, this is seductively sleek.

3 stars