Album Review: Simian Mobile Disco - Unpatterns

The boys are back in town. Jas Shaw and James Ford, better known as Brit minimalists Simian Mobile Disco (SMD), return with their third outing to showcase another expedition of their 'less is more' approach to music making. SMD has spearheaded an almost academic semblance to electronic music production whereby arrangements are painstakingly precise to the point of neurosis.

Still, if the lack of vocals on Delicacies was as plain as the nose on your face, their last EP, Temporary Pleasure, featured more vocalists than a choir. The boys' obsessive-compulsive and fastidious interest with electronica takes another twist on Unpatterns as they've shifted tact from trying to blend basic pop elements with the big, bam bosh components of minimal and techno. Clearly, SMD has taken Apple's approach, whereby design and how a person interacts with a product– or in this a sound– trumps all. SMD is as much about the design of music as the output. Notwithstanding, Unpatterns is a beautiful piece of artistry that balances texture with a rhythmic beat.

Unpatterns is also a bloody good electronic record; it pulses in all the right places. Their distinctive, methodical and minimalist approach reigns supreme, and tracks flow with so much ease that it's easy to forget you're listening to an album and not just one long track. The bass is as deep and sublime as anything you are likely to hear, and the vocals are effortless. It's all too easy for the listener to sit back and enjoy.

Still, there is a caveat: Unpatterns is, unmistakeably, a techno album. Think early Detroit and the Derrick May and you will be close to picking up what Unpatterns is about.