On their new album for Warp the electronic duo have created an electronic reflection on northern Britain (specifically Huddersfield) in 2015. It's a brilliant encapsulation of the thoughts and emotions of young people in the town, showing both the good and bad sides without passing judgement on either. The theme allows the band to create possibly their most cohesive album to date - as it takes you on a journey through various rhythms and styles, from the upbeat to more ambient tracks, it never loses its focus or sense of purpose.
The titular 'Foam Island' (a euphemism for this once green and pleasant land) is definitely one of the highlights, full of deft electronic touches, while 'Stoke The Fire' is a brilliant slice of electro-pop with an ultra-catchy melody that showcases the best of their song-writing. The most abrasive track here is closer 'Days Burn Blue', which I guess is what you'd expect from a song that was written while the votes were being counted for the bastard Conservative Party's victory in the last election.
I've listened to this record a number of times over the past week and can honestly say that it still gets better and better with each hearing. Concept albums (for that's effectively what this is) can be a hard thing to pull off, but they've done it with aplomb here.
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