With a song titled ‘Fail Epic’ on The Preset’s third studio album, it would be too easy to pass off Pacifica as a clunker. Luckily for them, I won't get to use that pun.
Despite the glaring omission of any real obvious singles or anthemic tracks akin to ‘My People’ or ‘This Boy’s In Love’, Pacifica’s restrained sound and air of artistic maturity is a rare thing in a singles-dominated era of music. Besides, we have Rihanna and Katy Perry to release singles compilations cleverly disguised as albums.
It’s been four years since The Presets pioneered glitchy electro dance-punk on Apocalypso – a sound that so many tried to emulate and even inspired the Black Eyed Peas to start making electronic music (thanks guys?)
Keeping one foot in their own late 2000s canon ('Push', 'Fall') and another firmly in spacey 90s-style house ('Fast Seconds, 'Surrender'), Pacifica often sounds too smart and sophisticated for the clubs. For a 'dance' album, yes that's jarring, but not to say songs like 'Ghosts' and 'Fall' won't get their share of spins, though.
The 808 gets a touch too simplistic at times ('Youth in Trouble') and fans of Apocalypso and Beams' mega-hooks will ask why more than a few songs drag through 6 minutes without the faintest trace of a chorus or hummable melody, but it's hard to not love The Presets for marching to the beat of their own drum. A beat that, thankfully, isn't four-to-the-floor.
Pacifica is available in stores now via Modular.
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