"The ineffably stylish Mr Neale's music is a sometimes confusing thing."
The ineffably stylish Mr Neale's music is a sometimes confusing thing.
Falling somewhere between homage and pastiche, its unashamedly 1980s touchstones would see it pale quickly if he didn't have a real grasp of how to write and deliver quality timeless pop songs. Tunes like the Scritti Politti-recalling synthetic soul of Danger come good-humouredly, but never without a real affection. And in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek Phoebe Imhoff duet of Hold On Together, there is genuine craft — even down to the obligatory plastic sax solo of the era. This is pop, yeah yeah.