London outfit The Utopiates are back with their new single, ‘Reputation. ‘Released last week on V2 Records, it follows their LCD Soundsystem-driven ‘Neighbourhood,’ which came out in September.
Image & artwork courtesy of the band.
Their direction of travel on ‘Neighbourhood’ significantly shifted towards NYC and the 00s indie-electro scene. ‘Reputation’ struts further into this territory with crunching basslines akin to London’s 00s scenesters New Young Pony Club.
Frontman Dan Poppewell taps into his vocal cadence on ‘Devolution’, which allows the Disco elements to creep in alongside the New Order meets nu-rave synths, which sprinkle magic sporadically throughout.
The combination of disco and indie-electro in this stripped-back style allows The Utopiates to glide in between Radio 4 and Tom Vek to occupy the fascinating ground. What neither of those above had, nor anyone from the nu-rave/electro scenes, was Josh Redding. He shone as a riff and solo maker of baggy and psyche classics on the debut album. Now, he appears mercurially like a guitar genie. Sprinkling psyche magic a la (Moon Duo) but in concise moments of technicoloured bliss.