When the lead singers of monumentally successful groups go solo, they usually try and make a discerned effort to move away from the sound of their parent band - but in Morten Harket's case, new single Scared of Heights is about as close to the revitalised trademark 21st century a-Ha sound as you can get. And in a way, that's what we like most about it. The song plays to Harket's strengths, taking that ethereal, angelic voice to all the sweeping peaks of epiphany he's done so well for the past 30 years or so. It's up-tempo, there's some lovely strings, and in its general spirit and airy lightness, it feels far more akin to Lifelines or Analogue than the heavier synth sounds of Foot Of The Mountain. And perhaps most crucially, it sounds like a big radio single, the kind of thing to really front an album campaign and lead it onward to proper chart success. A song this good certainly deserves it.
Don't you just love it when a song sounds so utterly like another time, another place, that just with the opening bars, you're sent spinning back into the recesses of your memory? Even better then when that blast of nostalgia comes from two distinct directions - All Mankind stand as one such creature.
They're steeped in the sound of The Killers; and a good Killers at that, when everyone's favourite New-Wave inspired US rockers were firing on all cylinders. Lead singer Rich Beeston's vocals bear a striking resemblance to Brandon Flowers and these lie at the very heart of the churning hurricane of energy that is Break The Spell. Launching from an aHa-esque piano hook, the song feels like the older, wiser coming to said band's classic Take On Me.
Remember when The Killers dominated the airwaves back in 2005, their first album sweeping away all else in its path? And how all those other bands fought for a slice of that action by fronting a sound very similar to The Killers? The Bravery... Boy Kill Boy... Was it coincidence they sounded like the band soaking up all the limelight? Merely a question of striking on a similar sound at a similar time?
The interesting thing was that these 'similar' bands actually opened up the market, for as similar as they sounded, they each came with their own personality and differences. A Boy Kill Boy song sounded like the Killers, but it also definitely sounded very 'Boy Kill Boy'. Identity. That was what it was all about. And in a crowded market, these bands fought tooth and claw to carve out their own patch on the scene.
So coming back to All Mankind, to see a band returning to a sound that some years ago worked SO profoundly well is rather refreshing. It's like revisiting all your favourite records only to find they sound new and exciting with some new twists and turns thrown in. Break The Spell is the essence of a radio-friendly rock track these days. And for Sydney-based All Mankind, it also sounds like the key that will unlock so many doors for them in the UK. The band have recently finished recording their full debut album and with their track Hollywood Tonight featuring on that glamorously amazing hit MTV show The Hills, things look very promising indeed.
Break The Spell is out this week and available to download here.
Signed to new Swedish label Jammerdosa, Sounds of Nonno are a quirky three-piece specialising in tranquil, minimal electro. The title track of their new EP The Crush abounds in bleepy videogame synths, paired with almost child-like vocals; imagine, if you will, a less forceful incarnation of Robyn.
But it's not all airy dreamscapes and twinkly electronic magic though - the basslines throb with a threat of far darker influences and in the last minute of the title track as the synths are fully 'let loose', so to speak, the track blooms outwards wonderfully.
The dance influences are felt more strongly on second track No Escape, this time led by a male vocal. An essence of fellow Scandanavian synth-poppers a-Ha seems to breathe itself into the track at times, whilst at others it seems firmly set in the clubland scene. Trance-like and beautifully melodic in its most intense moments, the whispy, ethereal cries stream all around you like the Northern Lights; shimmering streams of opalescent magic.
Into the Floor explores into more vague territory; the female vocals are back, this time stretching into a Bjork-esque siren-song. The band are at the fullest extent of their scale here, accomplishing the vision of 'arena-electro' they describe themselves at.
A lot can be said for music taking you on a kind of 'journey', but with the momentum of the pounding club beats and the eerie synthetic walls of sound Sounds of Nonno conjure up, it's a journey that's distinctly enjoyable.
More info on the release of the EP can be found here.
It's not often a music video really knocks you for six and makes you go WOW. But this one sure does. It's part of a movement a number of bands are going for recently where they hold an open competition for fans to create their own video for their latest single and the best one gets the accolade of becoming the 'official' video, going on to be serviced to the media etc. It cuts down costs for the band/record label and the fans get a cool competition and potential massive-kudos, acclaim and all round feeling of amazingness if their entry is chosen as the winner.
And so we have OMD's new single History of Modern (Part 1) - directed by Sweden's Lapantafilm, I love their stop-motion approach to the video. I don't know how long it must have taken to film but the end result is absolutely incredible. The references to past OMD album covers is very cool too, as is the a-ha Take On Me vibe that the whole thing has. Brilliant stuff.
