Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel

Late of the Pier are the one band that came out of the synth-pop-rock scene that exploded last year that you could believe. All the others seem to be playing what was cool, whereas LOTP are playing out of love for the not too cool side of ’80’s pop. Whereas alot of bands in the same mold get caught up too much with aesthetics LOTP are pumping out great songs with an off-kilter retro edge.

Produced by forerunner in the modern electro scene Erol Alkan, this album thrives where LOTP’s competitors falter. It’s vast, diverse and dynamic. Opening with an epic dual guitar guitar line and crashing drums in the form of instrumental ‘Hot Tent Blues’ the album then blends into a Foals-esque guitar line transforming again into a bluesy punk guitar thrash before finally breaking into the first song ‘Broken’. 2 minutes in and the album’s already thrown the listener off its scent, diminishing all predictability, you don’t get that from the Does It Offend You, Yeah? album.

The first track itself is hindered however by being too tame, after all that build up the slightly dull song that continues from it is disappointing. All that is forgotten however when the glitchy end to the track is destroyed by the monstrously fat synth hook of ‘Space And The Woods’, I imagine if you’re reading this review you’ve already heard this brilliant slice of 80’s pop with it’s dark Gary Numan-esque chorus. After the first moment of silence on the record the M.I.A. style percussion of equally killer single The Bears Are Coming demonstrate yet another facet to LOTP’s sound.

After this however the album hit another low point with the dull, straight forward pop of the ironically titled ‘Random Firl’, the song is saved only slightly by it’s Subtle influence outro.
At this point it must be mentioned Alkan’s production is immaculate, each track blends smoothly into each other making it a perfect for parties and will no doubt be met with cheers up and down the country when its played at indie-disco’s. The album takes a dark turn with Whitesnake (the second of three disastrously named tracks) which sounds likes Iggy and The Stooges if they’d been reared on a healthy diet of Eno and Gang Of Four.

After chaotic instrumental VW, the most dancefloor friendly track on the album ‘Focker’ sounds like a crazy combination of Justice and The White Stripes, with fireball after fireball of white hot electro. The track that follows ‘The Enemy Are The Future’ is a perfect follow up, after burning your ears of with Focker LOTP nurse them back to full health with this slice of NY House brilliance. The album closer, another single - Bathroom Gurgle marches apocalyptic on with its dark, swelling synths bringing possibly the most fun album this year to a close.

Fantasy Black Channel isn’t perfect - far from it but it is tremendous fun, with unrivaled diversity for what is essentially an electro-pop album. However some moments on the album are just too dull and cheesy to make this album of the year.

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