Paul Richards

Neon Neon is comprised of Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip, a producer and solo-artist who has worked with Four Tet and M83 amongst others. As concept albums go, you’d struggle to find one as bizarre as Neon Neon’s offering on Stainless Style. The subject matter concerns John DeLorean, an American automobile engineer and executive who famously developed the DMC-12 sports car that featured in the Back To The Future trilogy. The rise and fall of the playboy engineer is documented to an astounding degree on Neon Neon’s debut LP. With collaborations from a variety of artists such as Spank Rock, Har Mar Superstar, Fabrizio Moretti, The Magic Numbers and Yo Majesty, Stainless Style cuts across as many genres as you can possibly imagine.

Opener ‘Neon Theme’ is an instrumental that screams ‘80s synth pop that leaves you wondering what direction the LP is going in before ‘Dream Cars’ reassures you that it won’t be all arcade game samples throughout. ‘Dream Cars’ immediately kicks into gear as the subject matter soon becomes prominent (‘motor city blues/everyone one’s in a hurry’) as its pounding dirty electro beat carries the song. The equally brilliant ‘I Told Her On Alderaan’ also stands out with its radio-friendly pop sensibility and odd lyrical content, complete with uplifting chorus.

After much of the same with ‘Raquel’, Stainless Style takes a drastic turn in the form of ‘Trick For Treat’ featuring a rap from Spank Rock and falsetto vocals from Har Mar Superstar. Whilst it may sound like Neon Neon have thrown everything they can at this track, it works wonderfully well. Revolving around the lyric ‘she got me dreaming like a Michigan boy/in Hollywood’ it sounds, dare I say it, almost modern against the electro backdrop of the rest of the LP. The winding Middle Eastern strings show innovation on the part of Boom Bip, yet it struggles to fit alongside the rest of the album.

Back to the ‘80s influences that are constant throughout, ‘I Lust U’ is without doubt the stand out track and arguably the best single of the year so far. Cate Le Bon’s ice-cold delivery is complimented by Gruff Rhys’ continuously cool vocals built around a catchy dance beat. Meanwhile the subject matter is as relevant today as it was twenty five years ago with the lyric ‘I love you if the price is right’ particularly piercing. If there was any justice in the world this would have been a bona fide hit.

The other hip-hop tracks on Stainless Style unfortunately don’t fare as well as the aforementioned ‘Trick For Treat’. ‘Sweat Shop’, featuring Yo Majesty, has some genuinely painful vocals, whilst the collaboration with Fatlip on ‘Luxury Pool’ stutters and falters. Ultimately the hip-hop tracks disrupt the flow of the LP as Stainless Style seemingly runs out of steam over the half way mark. The harmless ‘Steel Your Girl’, ‘Belfast’, and ‘Michael Douglas’ do little to pick up the pace, though thankfully the LP ends on a high note with the hymn-like ‘Stainless Style’.

Whilst it sounds deliberately dated, perhaps to keep the sentiment of DeLorean’s downfall in the ‘80s, Stainless Style is without doubt Gruff Rhys’ best output since Rings Around The World. Its diversity from hip-hop to electronica, indie to straight-up pop takes the listener on a journey not just from the life and times of DeLorean, but also through a journey of the development of Neon Neon’s growing sound. We can only hope they return to the same standard next time round.

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