Now we're sure you're aware that the world isn't short of synth-pop bands with a slight fetish for 80s sounds, but London's Night Engine do things a little differently. Formed earlier this year, their first few tracks sound remarkably complete, if a little confusing. They're calling 'I'll Make It Worth Your While' their lead track, and you can kind of see why. It is an attention grabber and brings comparisons to Talking Heads' funk-indebted post-punk but with a very British edge taken from the original New Romantic brigade. It's a little clunky and a bit like a psychotic Fryars (another throwback about to return with new material). It may be their most punchy track and it makes sense that they cite Nile Rodgers as an influence, but it's not the best they've got.
The serious looking black and white shots call to mind those iconic Kraftwerk covers, and their debt to not only that particular bunch of German pioneers, but also the krautrock of Neu! is more apparent on 'Treat Me Like A Baby' which mixes the sounds of 70s Berlin with a layer of distortion, a trick that manages to leave their own stamp on a genre that many are drawing from at the moment. It's this less clean sound that will appeal to those with a more alternative taste. Standing somewhere between the two is 'On And On', arguably their best offering so far, blending all those aforementioned influences with power chords and a sweet melody for the verse. Night Engine seem like a band with options available to them, they probably have their own idea where they're headed, but fuzz-coated krautrock mixed with synth-pop and big-hitting pop tunes looks like the way forward to us.
Night Engine's website
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