Popularity? - Empire State Human

Empire State Human, also the name of a Human League song from the Reproduction album, come from Ireland and consist of Aidan Casserly, Seán Barron, Lar Kiernan and Warren Kiernan. Formed in 1999, ESH have released 6 studio albums so far and Popularity? is a retrospective compilation from the band.

This 17 track album kicks off with two tracks from their last album Cycles, released in 2006. Chase The Ace is a corker of a track warning of the dangers of drug addiction for people with success and/or money. Alongside Devil In The Detail, seemingly influenced by modern Kraftwerk, the first couple of tracks are a strong opener for this album.

Empire State Human produce strong melodic synthpop with distinctive vocals and interesting lyrics/subject matter. Aidan Casserly is a proper vocalist and can certainly sing, something not always prevalent amongst male fronted synth bands. What I like about this album and therefore ESH in general, is the variety of tracks and the standard of production. Whilst there is live playing, there is also consistently good programming from the band.

Shoot The Breeze has plenty of Pet Shop Boys-style synth stabs (a favourite of mine), We Are Industry is a modern descendant of Heaven 17's Crushed By Wheels Of The Industry from the subject matter to the chanted vocals, a 7 minute workout from Aidan and the boys. Apollo wears the band's sci-fi influences on their sleeves with this tribute to the NASA Apollo missions.

On every album there are tracks that don't quite hit the standards reached by the other songs, and here it's Digital City for me. The bass and drums don't quite sync for me, reminding me of Garland Cult's Style (which I heard first). Well one duff track (to my ears) out of seventeen is a pretty good return in my book.

Swinging Pendulums from debut album Pop Robot was produced by German synth act Wave In Head and is a bit of a moody track about mood swings I believe, lifted by Aidan's vocals and some layered backing vocals. This is followed by Dollar In Blue Collar, which was co-produced by ESH and Wave In Head, with a particularly strong bassline and haunting synth amongst the club beats.

Fallout slows the pace a little with a ballad about a nuclear apocalypse. A little strange to hear the descriptive lyrics within this kind of song structure but it works beautifully. Vegas Years is a bouncy track describing the Elvis years and the dangers involved in the glamorous gambling world in the Nevada hotspot. The album bows out with a piano driven torch song with Aidan sounding eerily like Marc Almond, programmed drum patterns and club beats are swapped for orchestral strings and big bass drums. Aidan's vocals truly soar on this ballad, Westlife eat your heart out. This is how you do it.

I have to admit that I'd heard of ESH but never heard any of their material before getting hold of this album. While it's not exactly a life or death matter, I really regret not checking them out sooner. This is a quality compilation and a must for any synthpop fans.