Appliance's 2000 mini-album 'Six Modular Pieces' was an underwhelming affair full of Teutonic bleeps and drawn-out, languid instrumentals. The news is that Appliance are now the new Depeche Mode (circa 1987) if opening track 'Separate Animals' is anything to go by; dark, crooning vocals accompanied by gothic, synth squelches suggest that they have been to the same songwriting school as Martin Gore. Yet on 'Land, Sea And Air' they hit on a winningly individual streak as a pile-driving semi-grungy riff helps to make a compelling groove. The instrumental tracks are more tantalising than before but it's the vocal-led tracks which indicate a more positive future; 'AM/PM' and 'A Gentle Cycle Revolution' managing to combine clinical precision with a blissed-out feel. There are clear pointers to their roots from the past but by using this method Appliance are going forwards rather than backwards.
Appliance's 2000 mini-album 'Six Modular Pieces' was an underwhelming affair full of Teutonic bleeps and drawn-out, languid instrumentals. The news is that Appliance are now the new Depeche Mode (circa 1987) if opening track 'Separate Animals' is anything to go by; dark, crooning vocals accompanied by gothic, synth squelches suggest that they have been to the same songwriting school as Martin Gore. Yet on 'Land, Sea And Air' they hit on a winningly individual streak as a pile-driving semi-grungy riff helps to make a compelling groove. The instrumental tracks are more tantalising than before but it's the vocal-led tracks which indicate a more positive future; 'AM/PM' and 'A Gentle Cycle Revolution' managing to combine clinical precision with a blissed-out feel. There are clear pointers to their roots from the past but by using this method Appliance are going forwards rather than backwards.
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