Album Review: Alunageorge - Body Music

Aluna Francis and George Reid drop their AlunaGeorge debut full-length, Body Music, following a number of fairly well acclaimed EPs and singles. The duo, operating on a dynamic featuring Reid on production and Francis as singer, produce vaguely experimental electro pop and – for all it's worth – that sums the record up.

Things don't really begin with a bang or a whimper; rather, they shuffle into life with the minimalist throbbing pop of Outlines, a suitable name given how pared down the tune is. Along with follow-up groover You Know You Like It, this presents the duo's ideas fulfilled in greatest success. There's a definite and palpable love for the past shimmering through on the album, and the '90s R&B vibes and Prince-reminiscent sexuality is what makes the record as enjoyable as it is when it hits the nail on the head.

For all the praise that can be heaped upon the album's ideas, the result is frustratingly shallow. The experimental edge never really has room to move and simply serves to constrict the album's shimmering grooves. There'd be little arguing against how lovely Francis' voice is – striking a gorgeous middle ground between naïve innocence and powerful confidence – and Reid is a more than competent producer, though the result is a hazy, occasionally monotonous 50 minutes of pleasant if inauspicious pop. The uniformity of tone across the record is a double-edged sword – it grounds the record as a well-planned and thought-out release – but has tracks bleeding into one another too easily to be discerned as remarkable or lasting. AlunaGeorge may have a brilliant album in them, but this is not it.