Temporary Pleasure

Simian Mobile Disco ahead of time

With their sophomore studio work, Temporary Pleasure, the British electronica formation Simian Mobile Disco gives us a key to the future music world. The members of this wonderful duet, James Ford and James Shaw, have been skillful song-writers, masterful producers and awesome performers since the late nineties. All these years have only made their skills even better. These lads did not come overnight to the music that Simian Mobile Disco play today. They started as members of a quartet, moved to club music and then began making separate tracks inviting various singers working in different genres. And only after this, Simian Mobile Disco took up recording their own long players built on the principles the musicians chose many years ago. Two James grew proficient at making dance music for those who despised it before they heard it. This became possible after these two reached perfection in fusing guitar music with electronic sounds leaving enough space for unexpected vocal solutions. Their debut album, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release (2007), was an instant hit and was followed by a strong sequel released in two years under the title Temporary Pleasure.

Temporary Pleasure: each song with its own character

The second Simian Mobile Disco album is another step towards full integrity of dance music and indie-rock. Dynamic beats and vast synthesized dimensions expose emotional voices of the guest singers coloring each song with its own hues. Despite the laws of the genre, the album opener, Cream Dream, is not full of energy, but loaded with curious lyrics. It is followed by a catchier track, called Audacity of Huge, mostly notable for the talented singer Chris Keating’s voice. Basically, as you reach the middle of the album, you start to believe that this effort is a platform for the invited vocalists to demonstrate the new facets of their faculties and thus find new supporters. For instance, Cruel Intentions features the Gossip front-lady Beth Ditto who comes out with a surprisingly touching voice. The members of Simian Mobile Disco made a wise step having chosen Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip, who made the musically simple Bad Blood an attractive piece to remember. Yet it will never do to underestimate the labor of the duet. Temporary Pleasure is also equipped with interesting instrumental tracks, particularly, a song with a strange name 10,000 Horses Can’t Be Wrong. It stands without a question that the producing of the whole record deserves all the praise, again thank to the efforts of the guys from Simian Mobile Disco.

Simian Mobile Disco have their best times ahead

When Temporary Pleasure, lasting a bit more than forty minutes, finally reaches its end, you come to realize the core of the meaning hidden in its title. But it is only partially true for the lucky owners of the CD with this material, who have all the freedom to start listening all over and over and over again, just as many times as they please. After another listening (probably, as soon as after the first one), you will see that the parallel lines drawn between Simian Mobile Disco and The Chemical Brothers are well grounded. The reason is far from playing what the other play. It is all about widening the boundaries of the genres, finding new of ideas, and, if you like, courage of the musicians. They once decided to play dance stuff for indie-rock lovers; and you just hear them do it well. Remember, this is their second album only. Now it is really hard to imagine what on earth might keep them from conquering new heights. That’s too early to name Simian Mobile Disco a revolutionary act. They have not changed the course of the music history, yet, no doubt, they have already become its makers.