PVT – Church With No Magic

Losing a couple of vowels since their last album has been a purely legal move for the Australian electro rock trio formerly known as Pivot, yet it’s exactly the kind of artistic declaration that sits well with the volte-face which Church With No Magic presents. On 2008’s O Soundtrack My Heart, brothers Richard and Laurence Pike provided the angular rock muscle to Dave Miller’s dark-edged sci-fi synths, reimagining John Carpenter armed with Battles and Autechre records for influence.

The big difference here is Richard Pike’s step forward as lead vocalist on all but two tracks, where before he uttered not a peep. It’s a bold move as the group sidle away from that ‘imaginary soundtrack’ slur towards making something more their own and, on the bubbling electro call-and-response vocal stabbings of lead single Window, having a euphoric time doing it. As Pivot, the outlook was dark but enthralling. As PVT, life is looking brighter. [Darren Carle]