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Pacifica makes me want to crydance on my own in a crowd of heaving bodies |
Those who know The Presets are those who love them. The Australian
electro-dance disco duo captured the attention of British fans primarily with
the release of their second album, “Apocolyspo”, a dark and offbeat opera of
dizzying beats and siren-screeching hooks that draw the listener deeper into
the album.
Their first album, “Beams”, was the first to lure in fans, with
its popping electrics and sultry vocals, bringing to mind Depeche Mode. As the
duo themselves aptly put it, they were “tearing dance music a new asshole”.
So with the release of their third album, Pacifica, it’s safe to
assume a lot is expected from them. After all, fans have been waiting eagerly
for four long years and are no doubt expecting to be blown from the water as
with “Apocalypso”. So has it lived up to expectation? Yes, and no.
The great thing about bands that push the boundaries of music is
that they’re at their best when you don’t know what is coming and get what you
weren’t expecting. If fans were expecting, or even longing for, a re-hash of
previous albums, they will surely be disappointed. This album lacks the
aggressiveness of Apocolypso and replaces it with subtlety, refined noise, structure
and yet more progressiveness, a la marching band drums and counting backwards
from 30 (you’ll get it when you listen to “Fast Seconds”). If however, you were
hoping to be caught off guard by the album then your expectations will be surely
sated. It’s a proverbial trip on a concrete path.
It does not leave you frothing from the mouth, as did Apocolypso, instead it hits a more melancholy and downbeat note, most evident in the trance track “Fall” and soulfully sparse closing track “Fail Epic”.
The whole album leaves a sad residue, that brings to mind a lonely
disco, combated only by the surprisingly poppy and optimistic “Promises”.
“Surrender” acts as the climax of the album and is as dance-orientated
as the album ever gets, save from the album’s opener and first single “Youth in
Trouble”, which is sufficiently throbby.
I didn’t know what to expect from Pacifica, but I am a fan
fulfilled. This is the album I didn’t even know I needed until it swallowed me.
If they had re-hashed a Frankenstein creation of Beams and Apocolypso I would
no doubt have loved it, but it would not have progressed them musically and
wouldn’t have led me to the melancholy dance floor upon which I sway this
autumn.
The Presents have not only composed an exceptional third album to
rival its predecessors, but it seems they know what I want more than I do. For
that, I am grateful.
www.thepresets.com
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