HTRK – Psychic 9-5 Club

HTRK made this album in part as a response to the death of founding member Sean Stewart, who passed away in 2010. It's their first record as a duo, and although Stewart's role in the band centred around bass and programming, it is the layered guitar sound of earlier records which is stripped back on the subtle, understated Psychic 9-5 Club.

"Beautiful, beautiful world, beautiful boy, can't have you," sings Jonine Standish on the narcotic, minimalist Blue Sunshine, a mysterious track whose lyrics address the themes of love, loss, denial and pleasure which run through the effort. The slowly-strobing, dub-inflected instrumental synth-pop of Feels Like Love is a measured slice of melancholy electronica, while Soul Sleep's textured, reverb-augmented vocals nod gently to Cocteau Twins. By turns subtly experimental and deceptively nuanced, this is one of the more inventive and complex synth-pop records of the recent revival, more forward-looking than retro-futurist. [Bram E. Gieben]