Applause, applause, applause. Get the gentlemen and lady a drink and make sure it’s a double. This is a rare and special gift. You have surprised me. I saw this and thought: “hmm… electronic music, that’s got to be all pandering to the ecstasy generation, thumping beats, no cares in the world and a pounding headache come the early light of day”. In sharp contrast, “Turn Me Around”, the first track on this album, manages to be bold, beautiful, chilling and intoxicating. Personally, it would be nice if someone turned down the synthesiser they can’t quite tune in on the first track but then maybe that’s the point. Listening to “Turn Me Around” gives one the unnerving impression that there are actually two songs flowing into the ear- a subliminal front serving as an undercurrent to the main, stunning vocals. Something is trying to tune in to the music and the listener is suddenly thrown into competition for the attention of the band. The second track (which, for some reason, is actually the third track on the CD), “Yes and No” is superb. There’s none of the half-baked satire and “it’s the same song again with different words” you get from the Pet Shop Boys. Of course, somewhere along the line, someone is going to claim that the Pet Shop Boys influenced Venus Hum. But really, Venus Hum are pioneers while the Pet Shop Boys have the George Michael Disease: they think they are being acutely satirical when they are actually just messing about.
“Yes and No” has a vibrant, sexual undercurrent and it’s weird to feel passion emanating from lyrics so obviously wrapped in electronic sound. Normally, electronic music is just like pressing the demo button on a bargain basement keyboard. You sit back and let the computer do the work and the talent for you. And, if you get bored, you throw in a few sounds you’ve borrowed from the BBC sound effects library. But not here. No, Venus Hum are manic and controlled in the same breath, the same beautiful moment. The vocals are a cross between Bjork, Annie Lennox and Sophie Ellis Bextor.
The song “Do you want to fight me?” is brilliant. I loved the line: “Do you want to fight me with your one good leg?” Who picks fights with pirates?
This record gets a five out of five but, when you read my rating, please keep in mind that I would have given it 100 out of 5 if only that were mathematically possible.
Rating:: 5/5
Record Label: Mono-fi records
Release Date: 24th July 2006
Words by: Martin Drury
