(In My Room)
From Interpol to Danny Brown, plenty of good artists have been inspired by Joy Division’s existential dread, but none have quite managed the sustained pastiche exhibited here. With clean basslines and hissing synthetic snares, Danish techno producer Trentemøller is not so much influenced by them as radicalised, leaving himself with little agency of his own. It’s all handsomely modernised and there are bright-ish moments, like the bleak dancehall syncopation on My Conviction, or the affectingly earnest ballad One Eye Open – but the latter’s resemblance to Joy Division’s Atmosphere, right down to the sweeping twinkles and trudging bass, is embarrassing. His female vocalists, including Jehnny Beth of Savages, are spirited, but they are scuppered by melodies that never grab your collar. The only respite from Ian Curtis et al is when the Cure are pastiched instead, as on River in Me, which splices Lullaby’s unmistakable plucked strings with Killing an Arab’s punk tempo.
Continue reading...by Ben Beaumont-Thomas via Electronic music | The Guardian
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