It’s probably a touch too cynical to suggest that Pomomofo have custom built their sound in order to be signed to Modular Records, but even a vague familiarity with that label’s signature sound will mean you know what to expect here. In their defense, when they do it well, Pomomofo give off all the requisite energy and attitude needed to make highly enjoyable music, in spite of any other reservations.
Lead track, ‘Island’, is the obvious standout (this being a single!), with it’s hook of “You’re just an ad for yourself” over electronic squiggles, block guitar chords and disco drums. Think Klaxxons done with a fair amount of panache. Remixes of the track by Live From Mars and The Toxic Avenger each utilise a little more subtlety and restraint – the former stripping everything back to a beat, a simple guitar figure and vocals with some added synths for the chorus, while the latter turns a compression effect into a lead instrument, pushing it to where it begins to have a kind of psychedelic impression. The two B-sides are just that, and highlight the problems of working to a formula – without an amount of inspiration attached the results end up fairly banal and forgettable. This is particularly evident in ‘Just Cos It’s French’ which savagely criticises the very scene it so desperately wants to be part of.
Adrian Elmer
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