Customer Reviews

Motivation

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... and yes, I do consider this MOST delightful. This is light, poppy synth music, every bit in the tradition of Erasure. Most enjoyable from start to end.

As an introduction, Equatronic are a two-piece synth outfit from Germany, Oliver Thom and Dorothea Brandt. Their musical influences are very strongly with 80's synthpop, with a few unique twists.

I first heard of this duo when I found some mp3's on their website. I downloaded them, and was so impressed I felt I had to get their album. So here goes ...

Now for the album's highlights ... "Paradise Eight", is very original. The vocals are ethereal, almost spooky, the lyrics taking on a religious sense almost ("Angels gone asray in heaven, in the garden of delight"). Almost reminds me of some of Erasure's stuff off of "I Say, I Say, I Say". Dorothea's backing vocals border at times almost on the operatic.

"Light" ... easily the strongest track on the album. Again with the religious-themed lyrics a bit, this one has a chorus that is instantly rewarding and that you can sing along with. This one just makes you want to move, and it burns itself into your brain with just one listen ... VERY joyful.

"Romance for the broken heart" is a bittersweet ballad about the end of a romantic relationship, a sad resignation and acceptance of the inevitable. Sad love ballads have always appealed to me for some reason, probably due to personal experience.

"The End" is atypical, Dorothea takes over the lead vocals, and she effects a vocal performance that very much recalls the Cocteau Twins. We have here, an analogueish ballad, very ambient, and for good measure Dorothea even plays a flute.

At the end of the album are four "bonus tracks", which are themselves tracks originally from the band's 1993 release "Shadowland" which was never released in the USA.The production values on these are slightly lower, but these are quality tracks.

The whole album is just wonderful. I'm a fan of Erasure style pop music, and I very much recommend you give this a listen if your tastes are similar to mine. You will not be disappointed.