Having quietly made their initial splash with the
Yearbook 1 collection (helped by generous MP3 sharing of same, along with related singles),
Studio re-released most of it (subtracting
"No Comply" and
"Radio Edit") to create
West Coast, which sent the simmering buzz about the group into overdrive. Little wonder why -- while perfectly in sync with any number of European acts playing around with a restrained, crisp energy to their
techno (it's no surprise someone like
Prins Thomas was an early booster), the duo of
Dan Lissvik and
Rasmus Haegg brings not only a sheen of '80s
electronics but that decade's art-inclined
rock & roll.
The Cure in particular have a huge influence by the duo's own admission -- one commentator's description of
West Coast sounding as if
Seventeen Seconds had been recorded in Nassau rather than London is as perfect a summation as any. Part of it is certainly due to the occasional lost and forlorn vocals, but the plunging bass and sharp guitar have a lot to do with it too, as the majestic 16-minute opener,
"Out There," makes perfectly clear, while the polyrhythms on
"West Side" and steel drum break on
"Self Service" are more than
Lol Tolhurst could have ever come up with on his own. This said,
Studio are far from a one-trick pony, and the six cuts on
West Coast more often than not deftly suggest numerous syntheses and new approaches to old styles rather than direct cloning -- almost as if a previous decade's sonic elements had been liberated from the songwriting context of their time and reassembled in new ways. Shimmering synths turn into astringent yowls coasting above the beats,
dub echo hits the kind of romantic swoop suggesting
Anne Dudley's strings for
Wham!'s
"Careless Whisper," while the concluding
"Indo" dispenses with overt beats entirely for a liquid flow of guitar and synth tones and rhythms. ~ Ned Raggett
