Wrong

Album review

Wrong is a two-CD set, but it's not a double album in the usual sense. Disc one contains the nine songs of the album (from "Heal" to "Haze" in the track list below). Disc two contains nine synthetic drones of matching length. This optional part of Wrong is meant to be played in conjunction with the first disc on a different CD player (a ghetto blaster or computer, for instance). This gimmick does achieve occasionally interesting results but for the most part it feels superficial and triggers a disturbing question: Have we reached the point where, as drones and textural electronics permeate the mainstream in the early 2000s, they have become optional? What is worse, it distracts from what should matter, the music -- because Wrong stands as a very good album on its own. Once again Mark Van Hoen (aka Locust) teamed up with singer Holli Ashton to record a set of strong pop songs. The quirk: everything is played on analog synthesizers -- no guitars (including bass), no samples. The warmth of analog technology, cleverly used, and the seductive inflections of Ashton's voice make a perfect couple. One thinks of early Eurythmics (minus the coldness of new wave rock), late-'70s Giorgio Moroder, and a bunch of British adult alternative pop artists of the '90s. Add to this the textural touch of Hazard or Biosphere and you'll get a good idea of what this is about: commercial pop with mainstream production values. It must be the label Touch's most accessible release.
© François Couture /TiVo