Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact

The fifth LP from New York electro/worldbeat outfit Gang Gang Dance sees their sound straying ever-closer into all-out prog excess – no bad thing, in case you were wondering. Opener Glass Jar takes six minutes of wistful, shimmering ambient synths to get going, before launching into a swirl of drum 'n' bass psychedelia, topped by Lizzi Bougatsos’ ethereal vocals. From this point, GGD’s music dips into club, global and classic rock influences at will, but always retains a distinctive identity.

Where Eye Contact improves upon its predecessors is in its sheer cohesion, which more often marries the melee of drum programming and sampling with the conventions of a rock band. The audacity of this approach might mean that Chinese High’s synth breakdowns sound like something an energy company might use for hold music, but such moments are rare on an album that demonstrates characteristic scope and ambition. [Sam Wiseman]