Elegant Machinery - Feel The Silence

Elegant Machinery have been one of those ever-popular groups within the modern synthpop genre, presumably because they always liked to party like it was 1982. I quite liked them but I never bothered with more than their '98 retrospective A Decade Of Thoughts. Not that I disliked them, just came to them too late and De/Vision had already at that time inspired me on a back catalogue trawl. Then they went away, and the fans mourned.

But mourn no more! For the Elegant Machinery machine is back with a new single. I have to admit that I was slightly intrigued by the excitement that engulfed certain forum members and decided to check out the video posted by the band that preceded the release of the single. I was hooked.

Regardless of my past indifference to the group, the one thing I could always credit them for was their knack for a good chorus and Feel The Silence is an incredibly infectious single with a chorus that will bury its way into your brain, shake it up a bit and have you singing along before you know it. The hooks are still there but the music sounds much more modern, it's almost as though they've either thrown away the Vince Clarke book of programming or updated it. It is still very unashamedly Euro-synthpop.

Beautiful World is the b-side and wears it's Eighties influences much more openly, but again with an updated twist to it. I was listening to A Decade Of Thoughts prior to reviewing this single and ironically both tracks are about a decade ahead of anything on that compilation. It's fairly mid-tempo rather than the all out dance number of it's predecessor, and Enforsen's vocals are a tad lighter and airy on this light poppy love song.

The Shapeless Mix of the title track adds in heavier bass and extra sequences but really plays out as an extended version of the Radio Edit. This is not a bad thing.

Also included on this single is the video, a mostly CGI affair which may also have been applied to Robert Enforsen as I swear he looks no older than about 23 in the video and that just can't be right. It's a pretty slick affair as well which looks as if some money may well have been spent on it. You can also see the video on the Elegant Machinery homepage here: http://elegantmachinery.info/index.php

Very strong return single, and makes the possibility of a new album much more appetising. Excellent stuff.

This review was originally written for http://www.synthpop.net