The Shortwave Set - Replica Sun Machine reviews
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| Allmusic |
 It's perhaps appropriate that the Shortwave Set have Danger Mouse producing their second album -- given the dreamy late-'60s Beatles-and-forward psychedelia that tinges the whole album's sound, what better producer to have than the one who came to fame mashing up The White Album with Jay-Z? If anything, though, what Replica Sun Machine calls to mind is a previous attempt to meld aesthetics from about ten years back, the Beta Band's Hot Shots II -- it's not a question of exact similarity by any means, but there's a similarly easygoing feel in the arrangements and the beats, something that invites drift and a steady crunch in equal measure. Adding in some fairly high-profile collaborators in the persons of John Cale and Van Dyke Parks increases the sheer baroqueness of Replica Sun Machine (as memorably matched by the striking cover art), along with the sense of steady progression and sweet chanting throughout, especially on captivating lounge-funk numbers like "I Know," down to the wordless harmonies next to what sounds like a theremin solo. On a killer song like "Now Til '69," easily the measure of the kind of sunshine pop into early-ABBA efforts by such bands as World of Twist and Denim, the surging energy gives the album a big kick, while stately glam-tinged songs like "House of Lies," with its descending piano-led chorus, are further evidence of Replica Sun Machine's wonderful charms....full text |
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| Musicomh |
The contrast between first and second albums couldn't be greater. For their debut record The Debt Collection, the Shortwave Set trio set up in a front room in Deptford, using old records and broken junk shop instruments rescued from Greenwich market, diverting them through a sampler where appropriate.
Fast forward three years or so and the band find themselves in the studio of Danger Mouse in Los Angeles, working on the follow up. In tow are John Cale and Van Dyke Parks. And yet the band's identity has remained, their musical textures still cut from the same cloth.
This time the sound is more upfront; there's a confidence in the musical statements they are making. There is also extra colour, courtesy of Parks' wonderful string arrangements, which add a depth to the music previously unexploited. Upbeat lyrics and beats trade hands, though the sense that something dark lurks just around the corner remains....full text |
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| Guardian |
| Three years after their underperforming debut - critics liked it; the public mouthed "who?" and wandered past - the Shortwave Set's return sees the band throwing everything and everyone into the mix in the hope of pricking up some ears. The album's special guests include chin-strokers' heroes Van Dyke Parks and John Cale, and production is by Danger Mouse. Remarkably, though, overegging has proved not to be a problem for the pudding. In an age of records reduced to sonic sludge in the name of production, Danger Mouse's work deftly shows off the Shortwave Set's strengths. It's not what you'd call a forward-looking record - these people have a more than passing familiarity with the early 70s work of David Bowie, and are in thrall to the folky psychedelia of a few years earlier than that - but it's expertly executed and swooningly gorgeous....full text |
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