Dance To Our Disco

As long as there will be music, there will be one obvious question on everyone’s mind. New Order much? Swedish-American trio Thieves Like Us are not the band to escape the question. Nor are they the one to say ‘no’. While maybe the sound is not NO in your face, the name leaves you wondering. Living in Paris took its told too on the boys’ music and there it was, their debut, Play Music. A fresh Hot Chip meets new wave meets French electro and a shitload of promises of a full dance floor studio material.

All said and done, we press fast forward and reach 2010. Here and now, we find the guys are just as eager to fill that disco. The reason this time? Ten tracks that come reunited under the name Again and Again. Reason of joy to some, reason of sorrow to others, not much has changed. Still a certain Hot Chip flair, still a bunch of French electro key twists, still some italo-disco sprinkled all over, still an obnoxious desire to put on a fanny pack, colourful shorts and a neon headband and dance the night away. They slow the pace, here and there (Mercy is awfully dark with its echoing synths) but they remain the kind of band that is perfect to make you groove even if sited.

Sure, if one were to enlist the characteristics of the trio’s music, maybe few would find something exciting. But, for a band that on paper brings nothing new, their new album rarely bored. In fact, it would be terrifyingly useless to list any highlights, as it has so many, given its purpose to provide the perfect soundtrack for a night out.

Whipping synths, robotic drums, crystal-like vocals, Pet Shop Boys quirkiness, Thieves Like Us love these things and use them properly in order to make a fantastic electro album. It sounds retro but never dated. They use electropop clichés (the female vocals a la Human League or Cut Copy, the sometimes overproduced voice) but never sound like clichés themselves. A dancefloor force they are.