SPIN

4

• SPIN Rating:4 of 10

• • Listen:

    Spotify

Label: Epic

It would be easy (but technically incorrect) to categorize this Copenhagen foursome as another bunch of dance-rock bandwagoners: Their 2003 import-only debut, featuring sprightly, self-descriptive singles like "Roller Disco Inferno," proves that they were actually contemporaries of Franz Ferdinand and the Rapture. But here, the Fashion try to merge emo urgency with arty detachment, a combination that cancels itself out, while the hooks fail to take up the slack. Singer Jakob "Plastic Kid" Printzlau's brittle whine soon starts to grate over the slight singsong tunes, and despite the rhythm section's undeniable propulsion, the impersonal results are too often stuck in place.

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