For their third album, and first in five years, Chicago-based electro poppers Joshua Eustis and Charlie Cooper nod to recent “new disco” (Lindstrøm, Lifelike & Kris Menace) and “neo-trance” (Booka Shade, Mobilee crew) styles. But at heart, the twosome are still laptop experimentalists. Eustis and Cooper’s restless tweaking results in “I made a tree on the wold,” with its swirling wordless choir and keyboard arpeggios; the electronic soul of “M”; and the claustrophobic stutter-step of “Your Mouth.” Their smoky, atmospheric ballads are too languid by half, but Telefon Tel Aviv’s bright melodic palette keeps Immolate Yourself from descending into a dull fog.
Listen: Telefon Tel Aviv, “Helen of Troy” (DOWNLOAD MP3)
