The collaborative effort by producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm and Christabelle Sandoo is steeped in the sounds of the past. Take a cursory spin through the album and the attuned ear will hear references to the work of Giorgio Moroder, Afrika Bambaata and Michael Jackson wafting off the tracks like steam trails.
It seems to me those recognizable pieces are there to lure you in to its grasp. Let these songs wrap their tendrils around your eardrums a little tighter and the real art of the album becomes more apparent. It eases you in to the weird touches Lindstrøm sprinkles throughout, phasing Sandoo’s voice into a space age instrument over the softly bounding beat of “So Much Fun” or turning an entire song inside out as he does on “Never Say Never”.
Mostly, though he’ll keep you guessing with beats that push and pull apart, rarely settling into a steady groove. When it does – as on the pure disco bounce of “Baby Can’t Stop” or the staccato Moroder-isms of “Let’s Practise” – it is strobe light dance floor bliss. When he stretches out your expectations like taffy, it’s an album for the headphone-toting heads. Either way, everybody wins.
