Interplay

Mmmmmm... and then Hmmmmmm.....

     

First of all, nice cover.

Ok... i come at this from the John Foxx part of this collab rather than the from croydon legend and fellow synth noodler, Benge. Instrumentally, this is what you hope its going to be... Moog's, 808's and other delicious vintage hardware pushed around by great musicians who clearly love some old-school tweaking. As the album plays thru you get echoes of early Ultravox and ghosts from Metamatic fading in and out which is exactly what I was hoping for... and it's given a nice update with Benge's glitchy/dubstep influences. What's not to love? Really! For anyone who loves the early years, this is perfect nerd material ... "ooooh a moog... oooh an 808 .... ooh that sounds like Glimmer .... ooooh that sounds like 'He's a liquid'.

So that's the 'Mmmmmmm'. After a few listens, the 'Hmmmmm' .... comes from My hero John Foxx's distinctive vocals. I can't help feel that the vocal melodies lines feel the weak part of this otherwise great album, in places for the first time, i'm cringing... I never cringe at his singing! Plus, lyrically it's weak in too many places to feel comfortable.

If you don't agree and love the singing, then this is going to be one hellova album for you, but for me, I dont' think he pushed himself as hard as he should have with the vocal melody lines and that has made this a 3 star for me. Shame really.