BLANCMANGE
Private View (London)
Blancmange vocalist Neil Arthur has been keeping busy since their 80s synthpop heyday, with Private View their 16th album. Even those who have passed by their later work may recognise the arpeggiating synth sounds of producer and keyboardist Benge from John Grant’s increasingly electronic voyages; he contributes ample programming here, with Chairs and Arthur’s proselytising delivery proving a decent match.
Though the tabla sound that was Blancmange’s USP in the 80s is long gone, original guitarist David Rhodes returns – he’s prone to some resolutely 80s MOR guitar, which renders What’s Your Name as one to skip, although adds a Michael Rother-esque guitar line on Reduced Voltage and adds more atmos to Here We Go Go, which plugs the alphabet between LCD and OMD. Everything Is Connected has an element of exoticism in to its exhortations on domesticity vs nature, and album closer Take Me harks back to the sweet transcendence of I’ve Seen The Word.
words CHRIS SEAL
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