Supersystem
A Million Microphones

Let's be clear: El Guapo were something else.

Too outgoing and producers of a shattered post-wave to be funneled into a trendy phenomenon, and too laid-back to lose their art-punk eccentricity.
Then came the transformation into Supersystem last year and an “Always Never Again” that showed the world a retouched face, a brand new look ready to definitively land in the dancehall, dashing here and there with whirlwinds of world-beat infusions. Which, translated, answered to the primitive sense of rhythm, that visceral afro-beat that accompanies and beats the lower belly.

“A Million Microphones” starts exactly where its predecessor said goodbye, confirming its formula, improving its balance but without deforming it one bit.
And so, here we go with a wave synth-pop in mid-beats like the opening “Not The Concept”, to the umpteenth dance hall numbers frescoed with arabesque arpeggios of synth and/or guitar (“The Only Way It’s Ever Been Done”, “The Lake”, “Joy”), to a transcendent dream of late ‘70s dance in technicolor like “Prophets” or a languid '90s electro-pop in the manner of the forgotten Beloved (the final “Revolution Summer”).

The level is pleasant, everything is easy to listen to, but it’s on the average side that leaves no trace.
So we save the whole shebang with the old punky instinct that ignites a remarkable “White Light / White Light”, and then delight our ears with a peak-time “Eagles Fleeing Eyries”, which knows how to disguise itself as a splendid semi-ballad in mid-tempo with that touch of harp that clings and is as compelling as was “Collect The Diamonds” by friends Q And Not U, its sister in pathos.

We no longer have the speed, the spasms, and the verve of a “Defcon” or the throbs of a “1977”, and although the average pace has slowed down, the final result does not suffer much from it.
To confirm without contradicting oneself, therefore, hoping that they find the taste to give another push forward, to avoid going in circles.