Alphabeat - The Spell

The may have got on many people’s nerves last year with their upbeat attitude and clean-cut catchy as hell party-pop but for many of us Alphabeat’s debut album and this singles it wielded (‘Fascination’, ‘10,000 Nights’ etc) were just what the doctor ordered in the face of grim British indie rock bands. Of course, since the boys and girl started making waves over here the popscene has completely changed and now we’re faced with a million fresh faced pop stars and their electro pop tunes.

Therefore it’s something of a shame to see that Alpheabeat, instead of continuing with their mission to revitalise the memory of the cheesier end of ’80s pop music into bursts of pure joy, are back peddling what sounds like a re-hash of ’90s dance pop. Granted it’s still better than most things that Calvin Harris has put his name to, and with Stine’s vocals it still does sound a little like the Alphabeat that many of us love but in losing the guitars and forgetting Anders SG until right at the end it seems that the ‘beat have forgotten themselves somewhat.

That’s not to say it’s completely irredeemable, the chorus is still huge and really catchy, but without the boy-girl vocals they’ve become just another electro-pop act. Let’s hope that next year’s album (of the same name) will deliver some more of those thrills of middle-ground pop music that made us take notice in the first place.