Album Review: Donny Benet - Electric Love

Ah, where to begin with Sydney's master of lovin', Donny Benet? Electric Love marks his second full-length release in two years,following on from the pure Italiano sex appeal of breakthrough Don't Hold Back, and the new material picks up right where the 'Sophisticated Lover' left off.

All 4 U takes you to a midnight street lining up to the discotheque with its persistent drum machines and sprawling sax, while following on the title track takes you back earlier in the night while trying to court that special lady – with legs that won't quit – driving home its falsetto vocals and gettin'-down keyboard sounds. You Want To Win All The Time has this very final-scene-in-Boogie Nights feel to it, with Benet being the one in the mirror. The song then pans out into a wild synth solo. One of the things about Benet's music is how wildly technical it is underneath all the essence it radiates. The album closes with the seven-minute You're The One, the closest thing to a ballad on the album, with the mournful sax at the end making you feel as heartbroken as the man, late at night under a neon sign.

Donny Benet is almost certainly not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It is stylised to the point where it could quite easily be thought of as parody. But, in the end, Donny Benet is the real deal, and he will take you places that you may or may not want to go.