Simian Mobile Disco – Temporary Pleasure Review
I was a pretty big fan of Simian Mobile Disco’s Attack Decay Sustain Release and to me it compares evenly to Justice’s Cross which is a highly regarded album in its own right. I was a big fan of Simian Mobile Disco’s work to say the least. They’ve created some buzz in 2009 with Audacity of Huge as a single and they put together a pretty nice lineup of singers for this year’s release of Temporary Pleasure.Temporary Pleasure features Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip, Beth Ditto of The Gossip, Telepathe, Jamie Liddell, Chris Keating of Yeasayer, and Gruff Rhyss of Super Furry Animals. A great lineup in the hipster realm of things and not surprisingly, they do a fantastic job. Some of my favourite songs are mainly because the singers do a wonderful job, such as Cruel Intentions (maybe it’s time to start checking The Gossip) and Bad Blood could serve as a pretty awesome Hot Chip track.
I could probably go on how much they add to the Simian Mobile Disco album but there’s one glaring hole on this album that can’t be ignored. Recruiting all these great singers add quality to the music as well as interest/hype in the album and album sales too. The thing is that sometimes good singers can mask music that just isn’t as good. Comparing the two albums, it’s a clear decline of music on Simian Mobile Disco’s part. It’s as if the band got complacent and decided they didn’t need to work as hard since they had such a great quality of singers.
On their previous release I actually looked forward to their techno only and interludes sans vocals because the band stepped it up. Even then, if you compare the two albums I find myself more enjoyed by their music. Instead on Temporary Pleasure it feels as if SMD are either lazy or too shy to overshadow the singers. Granted, songs have their moments but SMD wanes as the songs go on and refuse to kick up a level. Instead you have a handful a good songs where the other half seemingly rather mediocre. Either way on each and every song I feel like it’s an opportunity missed to make the song of the year or even anywhere close to album of the year.
The thing that made Simian Mobile Disco is that it was aggressive techno, it wasn’t music that liked to repeat itself for too long. They tended to be progressive and ASDR was fearless in that regard. This album just stays too passive it seems albeit with great intros, they just never built on their main hooks.
Rating: 3 out of 5
It’s good and enjoyable at times. However when looking at the lineup, it’s clearly an opportunity missed to make something EPIC. Instead it’s more of the lines of mediocre-ish and I definitely expect much more from Simian Mobile Disco.
Bad Blood by Simian Mobile Disco (featuring Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip)
Cruel Intentions by Simian Mobile Disco (featuring Beth Ditto of The Gossip)
