A storming back-to-basics dancefloor smasher from the reinvigorated PSB.
This umpteenth album from the electro legends is one of the most surprising of the year so far.
The boys are back, and they mean business with a hard-edged but supple, lean collection of tunes for the dancefloor, produced by dance-pop maverick Stuart Price (Madonna, Kylie, Scissor Sisters).
Fluoroescent is a dark, propulsive track that sprinkles its flat beat with metallic percussion and Bladerunner synths for a compelling six-minute tune, and their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s The Last To Die, strapped to a pumping beat, retains its soul thanks to Tenant’s emotive delivery.
The zenith is reached with the coruscating synth zigger and pounding 180bpm credentials of clubland monster Shouting In The Evening.
It’s not until Love Is A Bourgeois Construct that pop melody breaks free and bounces gaily around, a male choir recalling their 1993 reboot of Go West.
There’s more wry dance-pop in closing track Vocal, and Example’s cameo in Thursday feels rather awkward, but the lion’s share of Electric is uncompromisingly good.
4 stars
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