This secondalbum by Eric Melzer on Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric's Plastiq Musiqlabel (home also to Soviet and Travelogue) embraces every tired andworn-out element of electro and new wave. The vocals are vocoded onevery single track, except for the self-titled intro, in which analogbleeps and tones swirl around a monologue depicting Norway Squared as afuturistic plastics factory. "The future is closer than we think, andNorway Squared is there to lead the way." That is, if leading the waytowards the future is programming uninteresting drumbeats and blandsynth melodies. The vocals and lyrics seem intentionally jokey, butjust because something is slightly ironic doesn't excuse its badness:"My synthesizer talks to me, my synthesizer told me to free, then itsaid 'you can't synthesize love'" Melzer lists over 60 of his 'recentinfluences,' including both "bad synth pop," which makes sense, and"anyone trying something new for a change," which doesn't. Noticeablyabsent from the list is the Cure, whose "Let's Go To Bed" Melzer bitesnearly note for note as the chorus of "It's Only Pop." Additionally,the opening of "From One Ballad To Another" sounds so much like CyndiLauper's "Time After Time" that I initially thought it was a sample.The lesson to learn from Norway Squared is that just because you ownmodular synths doesn't mean you can write a good song. It isuninspired, unoriginal synth drivel like this that gives the wholeelectro revival a bad name. -
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