STILL The L.E.D.s

‘You are barely human’. Over and over on The L.E.D.s scratchy sled.’You are barely human’. Click whirr repeat. “Barely Human”. Over a spare cyclic guitar line and retro-futuristic synth, those four words again and again until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The L.E.D.s debut album is a finely executed work- it sounds like a far away dream of the future from twenty years ago,with silver suits and inexplicably robotic movements and dehydrated potatoes. All slinky bass and minimal drum stutter, icy guitars and itinerant loops, it ably mines a chilly vein of electro-rock. Then there’s the barely human part. It’s all played with such a level of detachment that you start to long for some warmth, to take the vocalists by the shoulders and check for a pulse, for some sign of life. Blue light is a welcome save with its harmonies that uphold the ‘light emitting ‘ part of the band name, and the latter part of Modernist Cut freaks out fuzzily in a satisfying non-uniform manner, but the lasting impression of the album is one of faint discomfort. It made my brow furrow.

three stars