COLDER - Again

Colder belong to that lineage of bands like Interpol, The Rapture, Ladytron, Adult, Two Lone Swordsmen, or even certain tracks by Death in Vegas, who in recent years have been bringing new wave sounds back into the spotlight in a convincing and, in some respects, "new" way, especially for a mainstream audience by now.

For those with a bit of historical memory who can cast their minds back to the very last years of the '70s, it's striking to recognize exactly the roots that gave rise to this record, which feels like a perfect blend of the era's sacred names: Joy Division, Suicide, Kraftwerk... At times it's genuinely hard to tell apart the languid, cold sound, the vocal distortion, the dry, minimal rhythm, the icy, detached atmosphere typical of those years, when technological/futuristic visions served to embody the rigid despair that characterized the bands of that time (the very breeding ground that later gave rise to the genre known here in Italy as "dark").

The production of the record, from this point of view, is flawless, perhaps even too flawless, so much so that at times it verges on cloying, since it comes across as a wholly formal recreation of the aesthetic without fully sharing its emotional core. Aside from this small personal gripe, let's get back to the sound, which nonetheless comes across as genuinely alive and fresh, a true summa of the best that the aforementioned bands had to offer. Spare drums and a bass pushed right up front immediately grab you on the opening track, "Crazy Love", where the vocals really do sound like a throwback to the past, a style picked up again on the following "Shiny Star"; and everything else follows this same, perfectly drawn and thoroughly engaging blueprint: rhythms without deviation, hypnotic in their almost martial monotony, synths weaving their melodies, no guitars in sight, and of course the bass stealing the show with its dry simplicity.

Stronger influences can be heard on "Confusion", with its distinctly Kraftwerk-style vocoder, the dub contamination of "One Night In Tokyo" (not unusual for the early '80s), a less aggressive Suicide on "Silicone Sexy", and, to complete the trio mentioned above, Joy Division on tracks like "Where". Nostalgia, however, quickly gives way to the tracks' sheer immediacy, which makes the whole thing enjoyable from the very first listen.

The figure behind this fascinating project is young Parisian Marc Nguyen Tan, who self-produced this remarkable debut entirely on his own, playing everything (bass, laptop, guitar) and recording it in a month and a half. The only outside input on the record came from Output Recordings boss Trevor Jackson, who got in touch after hearing the demo Nguyen Tan had sent him. Together they slightly trimmed a couple of tracks, though Jackson's biggest contribution is undoubtedly the artwork, which isn't limited to the cover but extends to an entire DVD of abstract visuals accompanying the CD.

As an album it's quite good, certainly not a masterpiece, but definitely a resounding lesson (pardon the pun) for the many who believe not only that new wave has nothing left to say, but also for the many aficionados who've forgotten just how eclectic and wide-ranging the genre can be, too often flattened into the usual clichés; in short, a release that plenty of people should be very envious of.

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27/10/2006