Review Summary: It's good, but it's not really that good. Catchy standard techno-pop, anyone?
I committed a rather large error in my listening of Temposhark’s debut record, The Invisible Line. While I originally only took cursory listens, the more I tried to delve into the record (as I had been quite entertained on my general listens), the less and less I enjoyed it. It was so much flair and so little substance, and the more I tried to really listen to it to try and capture that vibe I originally had, the less I enjoyed it. Then a sudden, unimaginable thought struck me: this isn’t a record made for headphones, to listen to while you're at home alone. This completely unreasonable thought took me a while to process, but now I know how to really appreciate Temposhark’s brand of odd pseudo-club electro-pop.
The album is dominated by pretty standard “techno” beats and production, with Luke Busby (the band member responsible for keys and production) laying down some interesting moments, with notables being the synth in the chorus of “Knock Me Out” (imagine a less ridiculous “The Final Countdown” melody) and the conclusion of “Little White Lie”. His music isn’t made to be greatly looked into, as often the cool, neat things you’ll notice randomly in a song will really be the only things worthwhile, but it’s more than enough to make for interesting party music or background pop. It’s fairly unique in the pop realm of things, but its not like Temposhark is pulling an Eno or Daft Punk here (although there is some surprising dub-step influence to be seen on random songs).
That being said, singer Robert Diament has a pretty enough voice and writes catchy enough vocal melodies, but his lyrics are so god awful, it stands as another testament to why Temposhark shouldn’t really be taken that seriously. While his singing may make opener “Don’t Mess With Me” sound truly dark and bitter, the lyrics do nothing but reduce it to half blithering, half stupid ranting on something about his music and the scene it may or may not appeal to. Then again, do stupid lyrics really matter when you want to hum along anyways?
It’s hard to really pin down Temposhark’s slight eclectic blend of house music with pop sensibilities. It really might not be club music, but its certainly not headphone music. It is best when listened through a nice speaker set or while in your car driving, when in the presence of company to enjoy the strange but enjoyable tunes. It’s not gonna be something your coming back to every week, but Temposhark’s debut certainly holds (maybe somewhat dubiously) the honor as my guilty pleasure for the year so far, something that is perhaps not that good, but so silly and enjoyable I can’t help but smile when I listen.
