Commuter 23

Following the largely instrumental Nil by Mouth, Commuter 23 is the fifth full-length by synth pop veterans Blancmange since their 2011 re-formation. By this point, though, the group has drastically reinvented itself, not least due to the departure of co-founder Stephen Luscombe, who suffered from an abdominal aneurysm. Essentially a solo project of singer Neil Arthur, this incarnation of the group is far more experimental than the popular Blancmange of old, exploring abstract song structures rather than sticking to accessible tunes. As with 2015's Semi Detached, there's some pointed, bile-spewing lyrics here, such as on opener "Red Shift (Blame Thrower)" and "Last Night (I Dreamt I Had a Job)." That album included a Can cover, and there's an unmistakable Krautrock influence to some of these songs, particularly the bright, shimmering highlight "Elemental Change," which could've been recorded by Cluster or Harmonia during one of their sessions with Brian Eno. The title track is closer to '90s ambient techno, and could've been released on Instinct or Fax. Oddest and bleakest of all is "It'll Pass Maybe," which mainly consists of the words "no new music experience" slowly repeated over a trudging, ticking beat and droning keyboard melodies. The final tracks seem like potential horror movie scores. The album is certainly much closer to Blancmange's 1980 debut EP, Irene & Mavis (which was reissued by Minimal Wave in 2013), than any of their more mainstream hits. ~ Paul Simpson|