Neuroticfish

Category: Electro-pop
Album: Bomb E.P.

Neuroticfish borrows heavily from the style of VNV Nation and Assemblage 23, delivering hooky electronic pop songs with only a mildly dark edge separating it from being club synthpop. Obviously, comparisons can be made to Depeche Mode, as well.

Bomb pulls heavily from the rulebook of earlier futurepop luminaries, giving catchy beats along with repetitive programming and pop vocals that, if done incorrectly, could be horrible, but Neuroticfish manages to keep their band competitive with the rest of the future/synth-pop pack.

“The Bomb” is a well-made track, giving one the feel of Tom Shear’s musical designs and structures. The other tracks, other than revisions and remixes of “The Bomb”, on the single all show promise. One is entirely unreleased and two are revisions of previous versions.

All of the tracks are interesting and worth a listen for the synthpop fan. Every song knows well how to capitalize on its hooks and melodies and deserves kudos for knowing how to write pop songs correctly. It’s nice to hear a band step up to the challenge of delivering more than just cookie-cutter copies of the latest electro-pop hit and actually write something that you’re forced to appreciate, even if it isn’t quite what you wanted to hear.

It gives hope that Geld, the upcoming album featuring “The Bomb”, might very well be worth your time and money.

 

from ReGen Magazine (~12/2004)