Century Plaza

Staring out from the cover with (non-artificially) blackened eye, paranoid android Dan Sartain goes back to the future for ‘Century Plaza’ – a new album of darkly nuanced electro-pop, released via One Little Indian on 19th February. While Suicide and Alan Vega have long been acknowledged influences (a cover of ‘Wipeout Beat’ features) ‘Century Plaza’ finds Sartain trolling the British synth-pop wave of ’80-’84 – particularly Depeche Mode - for inspiration, opening the record with a funereal remake of ‘Walk Among the Cobras’. Lead single ‘Sinking in The Shallow End’ offers up further provocation, indulging a truly outrageous Van Halen-inspired guitar solo (notably the album’s sole concession to the instrument). Crepuscular synths and metronomic beats dominate songs like ‘Cabrini Green’ & ‘Feigning Ignorance’ – either could have been pulled off a Blade Runner or Escape From New York soundtrack in a parallel universe – while ‘First Bloods’ and ‘Black Party’ are pathological US teen anthems that serve Sartain’s particular brand of charisma especially well.

2016 sees prolific rock ‘n’ roller Dan Sartain ditching the battered guitar for some cool, menacing electro on the neon-soaked ‘Century