Following two albums of glittery, strutting psych-pop as alter ego
Diane Coffee,
Foxygen drummer
Shaun Fleming dims the spotlights and turns up the fluorescents for the technology-inspired
Internet Arms. Still playful and off-center but with a more thoughtful, anxious tone, it embraces synthesizers and electronic drums to reflect themes of alienation in a digital world. (It's his first album to be recorded digitally instead of to tape.) Inspired by the idea of social-media versions of self, the glistening, midtempo "Simulation" contrasts the problem-free life of a facsimile with "a state of vegetation in my personal isolation." Other lyrics carefully consider a made-to-order lover. Processed vocals in various states of mechanical distortion give the impressions that the narrator, too, is at one with the machines. Though that song temporarily kicks into double time, there are only a few legitimately uptempo songs sprinkled throughout the track list here, including "Like a Child Does" and "Doubt," which layers lush synths, dense vocal harmonies, guitar, and driving drums in the choruses. The anthemic "Work It" is another rouser replete with drums fills and lyrics like "You can be anybody/Whoever you like/It's a matter of progress/A matter of time." Elsewhere, tracks like "Lights Off" and ballad "Company Man," with its processed harmonies and tinny, high-volume electric piano timbres, evoke the slick '80s pop/rock production of chestnuts like "Take My Breath Away" and "I Want to Know What Love Is." Taken together, these songs aren't quite as fun as
Coffee's prior material, but
Internet Arms commits to its concept and palette, and nonetheless delivers catchy set with doses of sex and poignancy. ~ Marcy Donelson
