Electric President: The Violent Blue

Bedroom shoegaze-pop enthusiasts Electric President have a short but sweet resume to their name. Each record has been consistently solid since their 2006 debut, S/T. As a result of that musical consistency, their albums and EPs have maintained a steadfastly similar sound. The duo, of Ben Cooper and Alex Kane, rarely extended its reach beyond glitched-out indie-pop. And, for better or for worse, that remains mostly true on The Violent Blue, their first on Fake Four Inc. While everything ultimately feels bigger on here, it’s still very much got that lo-fi, bedroom-pop sound. For example, the melodies of “Nightmare No. 5 or 6” are a little too familiar and derivative of their previous work. It’s on tracks like “Mr. Gone” and “Safe and Sound”, which bleed into one another, that Electric President treads new ground. There is a much more upbeat, sprightly tone to the music, especially in the huge, soaring hook of “Safe and Sound.” And the duo ends the record perfectly on “All the Distant Ships”, which plays like a tiny piece of post-rock perfection. But those chances aren’t taken often enough, a downside that’s fortunately outweighed by the fact that Electric President, even at their most familiar, can still churn out a solid record.