There will be very few records in this plague-year summer that will generate as much pure pleasure in a listener as the debut full-length from Too Much. The duo -- Ian Svenonius (The Make-Up, Escape-ism, Chain & The Gang, etc.) and Rich Morel (DJ, Deathfix, etc.) -- makes the sort of material that skirts the edges of disco, the frontiers of dance, and the periphery of minimalist indie. Club Emotion, out on Friday, straddles those genres, even as it boldly stakes out a path towards something else entirely. While some of this, obviously, sounds a tiny bit like Ian's own Escape-ism, the overall vibe is brighter, less claustrophobic, and altogether more fun.
"Lay It On the Line" finds Svenonius adopting a Jarvis Cocker-like faux swagger, his delivery positively insouciant here, as Morel's beats simply and insistently pound a rhythm behind him that's all Eighties electronica, even as the title cut on this record is likely to draw comparisons to Fad Gadget and The Normal. Elsewhere, "Not Tonight" is all Barry White bits juxtaposed with Barry Adamson textures, an elegant blending this one, while early single "Patent Leather" takes the same formula and adds a dash of Kraftwerk to it.
What's remarkable about nearly all of Club Emotion is how committed Ian Svenonius is to this. Sure, there's an archness to parts of it that puts it in line with some of the tongue-in-cheek moments from previous projects of his, but on the whole, his enthusiasm throughout Club Emotion is palpable. "We Showed Them", for instance, is one of the most fully-realized numbers Ian's been involved with in ages, one where a listener doesn't have time to think Ian's being tongue-in-cheek, because said listener is too busy dancing. It's a fantastic groove, and a real highlight here, as is the gloriously heartfelt and funny "I Wanna Be a DJ", the epic closer. This one, a semi-serious moment on a thematically-light record, is a real highlight here, but, really, nearly everything on Club Emotion is excellent. It's rare that a release seems this effortlessly joyous, so easily smart and clever, and so fun.
Club Emotion will be out on Friday via the link below, via Radical Elite Records, and via the Dischord website.
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