Album Review: Letherette - Letherette

English duo Richard Roberts and Andy Harber introduce themselves as Letherette with their self-titled debut this month. The duo deals in lustrous grooves that experiment with French-style filter house that often pulsates under electro and disco influences. The duo could pass for a couple of 'Daft Punk's but their approach is so smooth that much of this album feels like laidback lounge. 

The warm surging synths of the album's opener After Dawn have a lush, liquid feel while R&B vocal samples that have been manipulated into glitchy abstraction are also thrown into the mix. Lead single D&T bumps and grinds to a similar electro-funk beat but neatly slides in a spaced-out guitar solo that sounds like it's being beamed in from the other side of the universe. Amusingly, I Always Wanted You Back feels like Philly disco soul being experimented upon and completely deconstructed in a sampler. Cruising an after-hours vibe, the sweet down-tempo indulgence of Gas Stations And Restaurants gives listeners a chance to refuel ahead of the energetic club thump of Warstones, which is guaranteed to be an instantly classic floor filler. The playful bounce of Space Cuts adopts more of a future R&B approach and features some amusing chopped-up vocal samples. 

The second half of this album sinks into the chill of spaced-out cosmic lounge and this is best exemplified on the wistful ambience of Say The Sun, which deals a gorgeously intimate, blissed-out vibe. Letherette is a solid debut from a couple of 'lether' boys that should put a smile on the faces of those currently randomly accessing memories.