New Modular band! Four-to-the-floor kick with a hi-hat on the offbeat? Check! Trebly Britpop guitar strum/wank? Check! Disco disgusto? There it is, in ‘Day’s Edge’, the obligatory lyric concerning the “strobe light flashing on and on and on/coursing through my mind”.

This is an immaculately EQ’d collection of five bubbly New New Romantic nothings. From the hypnotic repetitive riff hypnotic repetitive riff hypnotic repetitive riff in ‘Blank Photo’ to the buff gurgle-funk of ‘Electric Light’, it’s all very by-the-numbers dance party. Resonant synth arpeggios skitter along over muffed-up bass as some guy mews. Plug-In City are the stilettoed synthesis of their Bloc Party worshipping contemporaries. Fans of any genre will settle for an underwhelming sequel – track two, ‘Broke On A Wheel’ may as well have been titled ‘Out Of The Races And Onto The Tracks Returns’.

This EP’s hot off the press and the production is genuinely fresh. The songs have some vitality and the band doesn’t sound entirely spent – there’s some punch in their arrangements. Sadly, though, the vocalist never ever cuts loose. It’s all very controlled, under-stimulating and uninteresting, yet it will get plenty of radio airplay. What band am I listening to again?

by Adrian Trajstman