Album Review: Neon Neon - Praxis Makes Perfect

What began as a side project for Super Furry Animals alum Gruff Rhys and producer Boom Bip has now graduated into a legitimate voice for both artists. As with their first album Stainless Style, they've chosen to act as pop historians. On Praxis Makes Perfect, their subject, Italian publisher and anti-fascist campaigner Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, is interesting and dramatic, and offers plenty of rich detail and melodrama for the guys to draw from. Whilst Stainless Style can boast far greater heights and several unbeatable hooks, Praxis… is a more coherent listen, and offers a smoother ride.

What Praxis… does well is represent a band whose level of attention to detail is remarkable. Stainless Style was based on the life of millionaire playboy and industrialist John DeLorean (inventor of the car of the same name), and is rife with sonic references to industry, technology, and luxury. Praxis… does much the same, but uses a different paradigm. The sounds that push forward are rich Italo-Disco arrangements, bright Mediterranean techno-pop ballads and vaguely paranoid segues that all could've been lifted from some forgotten Italian political drama from the '70s. It's a testament to the duo that nothing feels like affectation, and their adaptability is admirable.

It's slightly disappointing when it all wraps up though, as it's a short record, and it feels like it's cheating the subject matter by skimping on the details of such an intriguing character. Ultimately, if you're going to commit to doing an historical concept album, narrative structure is important. Stainless Style got that right, but was let down by inconsistencies in quality. Praxis… is the opposite: good song writing, shallow story telling. 

That said, Praxis Makes Perfect is a perfectly acceptable addition to a promising catalogue, and new material should be highly anticipated.