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People of a certain age and disposition are going to find this 7” single from former Plone man Mike Johnston hugely enjoyable. I know I do. More than almost any other single released in 2007 in fact. And this is not just because it's a real nostalgia fest, opening with an Electric Dreams-like intro before taking the relentlessness of some Trans-Europe
Express beats and marrying them to the pop sensibility of early New Life-era Depeche Mode. You know, before Vince Clarke left and they went all mean and moody, and well before Dave Gahan made that solo appearance at a UK festival a few years back. There, bare-chested and in leather trousers and looking like some cut-price Iggy Pop, he stomped about the stage like a simpleton breaking in his new shoes. No, there's nothing dark and post-Vince about Eurocentric. This is tinkly and upbeat. And really, really good.
The predominantly instrumental b-side is worth a listen too, pitched as it is somewhere between OMD's Enola Gay and the classic TVOD by Daniel Miller's The Normal. In case you hadn't sussed it out yet then, there are synthesizers present. And late 70s/early 80s sounding analogue synths at that. If you didn't like this sort of music back then, you're not going to like it now. And if you weren't born at that time, this may well sound very quaint and old-fashioned, which I guess it is. But so are lots of English villages, but that doesn't mean you should never go to them. So regardless of your age, if you do like any of the aforementioned artists, visit this record now.
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