‘Many dance on the divide, what in their voices they hide, mixing up the words, exchanging blows forever’ (Lost And Found)

Cleveland’s Disintegration make their full-length debut on Shiver In A Weak Light, following up their first EP from last year, Time Moves For Me.  They continue to evoke the ever-blurred intersection where the euphoria of synth-pop coalesces with the more melancholic hues of post-punk.  The result is an album that draws with relish on the rich traditions of its 1980’s influences, before reshaping them into a strikingly contemporary interpretation.

Pulsing synths and deftly inventive electronic programming form the band’s bedrock, which provides the room for the wider instrumentation of guitar, bass, and acoustic drum to subtly explore a more expansive palette than might otherwise be the case.  But it is, perhaps, the vocal hooks and soaring choruses carried so boldly by Haley Himiko, also of Pleasure Leftists, that are the defining propulsion.  Himiko’s delivery retains her trademark gothic-tinged power and further imbues it with a dramatic sense of pop theatre that is positively spine-tingling.

Each track brims with its own carefully crafted identity.  From the darkly infectious Shot By Both Sides to the eerily stripped back Abandon, and from the percussive fervour of Messages to the catchily pulsating In Your Diary, this is a satisfyingly well-realised album.  And one that will insidiously see you breaking out the dancing shoes whether you want to or not.