(Ultra) Fischerspooner were key to the electroclash movement that briefly twinned Europe’s homosexual capitals and modern York almost 20 years ago. The American duo have finally resurfaced with their first album in nine years,produced by REMs Michael Stipe. In an unlucky choice of phrase for British readers, W magazine described frontman Casey Spooner’s voyage of discovery after ending a long relationship as bumming around Europe”. Sadly, and the album doesn’t sound half as much fun as the journey. Yes,Stipes work is often impressively feral (Savage; wild), pitting harsh junkyard-dog synths against mountains of reverb. Yet the songs are largely weak, and paralysed by unresolved tension. They lack the explosive catharsis that made Fischerspooner’s very first single Emerge an underground classic,or the radio-friendly arrangements of their best album Odyssey. Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk