Late Of The Pier
Fantasy Black Channel

THE REVIEW

In a British music scene clearly struggling for inspiration, a band emerges that seems capable of bringing back a bit of hope.

Late of the Pier are often mistakenly associated with the Nu-Rave scene. In my opinion, they have nothing to do with bands like the Klaxons and similar ones, and with a scene that is annoyingly self-satisfied, musically sterile, and inconsistent.

Here we have a group that draws from influences as numerous as they are varied: from the futurist synth-pop of Gary Numan to 70s rock, from glam to post-2000 electronics.

What distinguishes them from the myriad of backward-looking bands that shoot by like meteors are mainly two things:

•1.        a remarkable personality in the reworking of influences

•2.        finally an ambition well-supported, leading them to do unpredictable things, mix genres within the same song, and generally shuffle the deck a bit within the old, noble song form.

Sure, there are many danceable rhythms, but these are not songs subordinated to dancing; after all, rhythm is treated like any other element in the construction of the song.

Already the intro, short and blazing, introduces us to a complicated and amusing universe; the first track is exemplary: a hodgepodge of sounds and influences that seem on the verge of collapsing, come very close, but don’t actually do so. And you haven’t even reached "Bears are coming": a sonic assault of electronics played with the energy and physicality of rock. This might be the key to understanding Late of the Pier. They play electronics with the violence of rock'n'roll and rock as if it were electronics.

Then there are the tracks in the style of Gary Numan from 2008: "Heartbeat", which pulses and runs like an old synth-pop warhorse. It's a very varied and well-played album, although not yet fully mature as a debut, it's truly interesting.

One must not forget the other key to reading the album: irony. A healthy light-hearted vein, fun and amused, contributing significantly to making the listening experience pleasant and worthy of repetition.