Album Details

• Artist: Stereo Image
• Album: Stereo Image
• Label: Nomads Welcome
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2009-02-11

Don't you secretly miss suave 80s synth pop? The kind that was literate, had decent hooks and a Romantic flair? Johnny Dark and San Serac sure do; as Stereo Image they manage to recreate that sheen, that shimmering dance music with a rough underbelly off earlier (and, to be honest, better) by Gary Numan, Berlin and Human League. Still this self-titled release leaves its own mark, its hard electronic pulse suitable both for dancing or smugly brooding.

"Pack Moves" and "Your Collapsed State" are the killer cuts, though not far behind are "Red Nights" and "Clamoring." Stereo Image have a nice mix of the ambient with the hard groove, the jaded with the awed. Certainly Dark and Serac's experience in other bands and on other projects gave these ideas time to develop and gestate, as the entire record emits a confidence that rarely seems self-satisfied.

So Stereo Image are with us, keeping the flag alive for literate techno that smoothed the edges of Suicide and darkened some of the edges of Tangerine Dream. The duo knows both the juicy pieces of history, and how to blend them with their own ideas into something smart and sharp.

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