Kody Nielson certainly is the master of musical reinvention. In his first outing as Silicon, he shrugs off many of the musical traits of the Mint Chicks and Opossom, and goes for something altogether more introspective and electronic.
Although when I say electronic, even that's a little misleading, because there's still drums, vocals, bass, synths (lots of synths), which are played by Nielson, not programmed. And perhaps that's what gives this meditation on the line between human and machine its soul, for there is plenty of soul here.
It's a surprisingly warm record, the vocals (as processed as they often are) dripping with emotion, the grooves drawing from the worlds of funk, RnB, jazz, and disco. That's Nielson's trick really, to create these almost disembodied voices that still feel full of empathy, yearning, humour, and intrigue.
The opening title track is a master work, combining philosophical ruminations on the power of technology with a stunning melody line, light-filled and pulsing. And it's followed by the somewhat sinister yet upbeat Cellphone, featuring a sample of a real life 911 call.
