Alphabeat
s/t
Copenhagen Records
The opener "10,000 nights of thunder" is the kind of music that seems effortlessly conjured up. It's a healthy dose of ABBA, a touch of Scissor Sisters, some 60s pop and lots of enthusiasm mixed together while drenched in sass and fun. Add some delightful dueting between singers Anders and Stine, hooks that could capture a great white shark and we're looking at an instant spreader of joy, not to mention a song impossible to sit still to! But there is a problem. The album never again reaches the same dazzling heights. Instead of uplifting retropop, it sometimes loses its way with prolonged songs about rubber boots and Macintoshes. Or songs lacking energy and spark, songs that merely become hollow shells of retro fascination. However, when it works (and to be honest it work more than it doesn't), like the fabulously bouncy "Fascination", or the Stine-lead anthem "Boyfriend", then Alphabeat is an instant sunny cure to icy spring chills. A giddy party cocktail from the best of the 60s and 70s that may not change your world, but at least brighten it.
- Hanzan