"Hey you! Come on ever here! You've just been chosen!" Dance punkwaving away from retro futurist flourescent arcades of dayglo nothingbrought into the radioactive bubblegum world by the TV eye trio Enon -bright corners of 'High Society' seem rerouted from obvious drug pun.Initially "Old Dominion" rocket-rushes from speakers in chunky rockin'populous frenzy, twisting and spitting tuneful as if atomic men hadshaved the cartoon kitten, and brought on irreal visions of facelessladies walking poodles. These are the finest rockpops tune vibrationsto wobble my eardrums since that Wire EP you should all have heard bynow. You know John Schmersal used to be guitarist in that greatBrainiac band from Dayton, Ohio that stopped just as they peaked whensinger Tim Taylor's car crashed and killed him? John's been busy sincethen, relocating to do the Enon thing in New York, with a clutch ofseven inches and between two and five albums depending on which way youcut it. To find out which way you'd cut the cake, visit the band'shyper TV hellnation website (www.enon.tv),where you will also find more sounds including monthly net-only tracks.Since the excellent quirky 'Believo!' album there have been at leastthree big shifts in Enonsound. There's a catchier pop approach togadget strewn mix'n'scratch songfighting and a fuller, heavierproduction, courtesy of Girls Against Boys' Eli Janney. Newbass-singer-synthist Toko Yasuda, formerly of The Lapse and BlondeRedhead, brings some high vocal counterpoints and leads to offsetJohn's increasingly all over the range bunnyhop singing. She takes thelead on four of the fifteen songs, and the first of these, "In ThisCity," is a surprising sugarpop confection with breakbeat backing andan almost 'J-Pop' feel. Lots of silly effects are chucked on the John'svocals, and often the sillier the better, as on the mostBrainiac-Electroshock friendly tune "Native Numb," but Enon can just aseasily play it straight and get away quick after writing a killer tune.Just take for instance the insanely catchy hi-energy summerfun tones of"Salty" (Toko's finest lead) followed languidly by the almost RayDavies bitter mellowness of the title track, with it's sax and strings.Take the sweet drowsy lullaby "Count Sheep" and put it in your pipe andsmoke it before "Carbonation" business kills the radiopop active-kids.Meanwhile "Window Display" seems tailor made for radio stations toblitz the airwaves, even if it seems to be a song about marrying anandroid and breaking her remote control. Toko seems to play the part ofthe remote malfunctioning displaydroid on "Disposable Parts" where shesings of the futurejoy of replacing organs and limbs, whilst Johnmorphs into a impenetrable deep voiced daftbot. Underneath the almostchildish robot infatuation there are perhaps more serious themes ofalienation and disconnection lurking. Another song that'll have oldBrainiac fans grinning is the manic "Pleasure and Privelige," with it'surgent urges to wave fingers in the air. The most affecting song is theperky "Natural Disasters," especially the bittersweet reversesynthmiddle eight, and it's hard to hear the chorus without being remindedof Tim's tragic crash, as John sings a song of moving on, keepingplayful whilst some people want to draaag him back - it's probably thekind of anti-elegy Tim would've smiled at. Like the forthcoming Wiresmash "Nice Streets," this is an addictive pop fix that easily trouncesall those retrotrendy Electroclashers and rollrock-poseurs to amultifractured pulp. These songs hum with experigressive provivalistlife force and summertime hues. If this band aren't getting offered bigdollar studio deals, it's just more proof that biglabel A&R dudeshave ears full of pudding, as usual.
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