Mixed Emotions
Tanlines
True Panther Sounds.
SCQ Rating: 79%
At the present
moment, it’s easy to take a band like Tanlines for granted. Upon first listen,
they cater to the same blog-fueled craze for 80s reinvention that’s virtually
too crowded a scene to pick names out of. From that assessment alone, Tanlines
efficiently checklists a myriad of obvious qualifications: lots of dated
synths, echoed drum patterns, and morose but catchy choruses. But what stubbornly
renders Tanlines essential listening in 2012 can be deduced less from that
New-Wave formula but how the Brooklyn–based duo toys with it.
Coarsely put, Jesse
Cohen and Eric Emm filter Cut/Copy’s vein of anthemic 80s-for-indie-kids’ cool
down to its most visceral gears. By deconstructing much of the gloss and
frills, Mixed Emotions boasts strengths that pack a more human punch than your
average, overproduced synth-athon. Emm’s vocals, which add an impassioned
urgency to each track, sit front and center on defused techno highlights “Not
The Same” and “Brothers” while Cohen keeps the record’s percussive flair
inimitable by adding a tribal sense of momentum to even-keeled tracks like
“Lose Somewhere” and “Real Life”.
Mixed Emotions still
has a luxurious vibe that comes naturally to fun electro-pop records, showcased
most exquisitely on “Rain Delay”, “Abbey” and the sentimental “Nonesuch”, but it's never used as a means of covering for one-dimensional songwriting. Tanlines is worthy
of honing the 80s muse because their hands-on approach never confuses man with
machine.
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