| Artist |
| Digitalis |
| Title |
| Collections Of Conditions |
| Format/Cat |
| 2CD TVT CDA001 |
| Label |
| The Truth Vs Tabloids |
| Style |
| Danceable Harder-edged synthpop |
| Date of review |
| 6th November 2008 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 7/10 |
|
|
 |
|
Until Digitalis were announced as headliners on a recent Synthetics Club night I'd never heard of them but I was immediately impressed by their polished & danceable blend of electro pop/rock which made obtaining a copy of this self-released album a must. Although this is their debut as Digitalis, both Graham Denman (vocals) & Mike L'Angellier (keyboards) possess impressive musical CVs, having worked with artists as diverse as Sarah Cracknell of St. Etienne & Chad Jackson (of 'Hear The Drummer Get Wicked' fame) & the duo have gained widespread club & radio play, even catching the ear of Danny Rampling so they've already cast their net far wider than the established 'alternative' electronic scene although there's no reason why they shouldn't go down a storm in those circles either, as, right from the opening seconds of 'No Control', which is one of several tracks to feature Liz of Swarf on backing vocals, it's obvious that the duo have got it going on as the fanfare-like opening lends itself perfectly to this dynamic opener that gets the album off to a cracking start. The duo's style of harder-edged electropop comes up trumps throughout, particularly when mixed with the EBM-friendly Arabian-flavoured motifs on 'The Pain Goes On' while 'Feed Your Head' similarly benefits from a slightly harder edge mixed with more melodic elements & mixed male & female vocals. This is, in fact, a constant facet of the album, utilising a number of different backing vocalists, including Marlene Denman, who guests on 'Why Accept' which has already gained a degree of fame as the track with the Bee Gees riff on it (part of the main theme from Tragedy, believe it or not) on the end of the chorus. Early on, a successive number of tracks all get straight down to business which gives the impression that the arrangements could do with improving & although the later tracks do improve matters a good deal the 'intro' of 'Give To Me' that opens the additional disc of 12" remixes (IE longer versions!) of selected album tracks indicates how they could add that extra something to their already potent sound. In general, though, this is a very enjoyable debut from a duo that should go a long way.
|