UK-based synth-pop trio Eskimo Disco have already cultivated something of a healthy following in their home country thanks to headline slots at festivals and clubs across the UK and Europe, and the breakout indie chart success of their 2006 “7-11′ debut single, which featured a Pingu-inspired video, attracting the interest of cult label Stiff, who swiftly featured the band on their box set. This debut album Robots & Laptop Dancers Make Good Friends sees Eskimo Disco crafting a collection of eighties-retro gazing indie synth-pop in a vein that’s not too disimilar to the local likes of Grafton Primary and the Midnight Juggernauts, with Apollo 440′ Howard Gray (U2, Simple Minds) responsible for production duties. Opening intro track “Life On Mars’ clearly shows Eskimo Disco aiming for the sorts of stadium-filling synth-rock vibes fashioned by the aforementioned Juggernauts, complete with crashing live drums and vaguely psychedelic electronics, while radio-friendly singles such as “What Is Woman’ and “Hard To Change’ would easily slot in comfortably alongside the likes of Cut Copy, and indeed much of the Modular imprint’s current artist roster. While it’s certainly solid synth-pop / indie stuff, Robots…unfortunately offers little surprises amongst an already saturated genre, with “Japanese Girl’ treading dangerously close to cliché at points, thanks to some serious overuse of vocoder during the chorus. The appearance of former Gusgus vocalist Hafdis Huld on “Picture Perfect’s does at least offer some fresh angles towards the end of the tracklisting, but for the most part this is fairly pedestrian stuff.
Chris Downton
