Strange Pleasures (Bonus Track Version)

On Strange Pleasures, the London-based duo Still Corners interweaves disco, new wave, and Southern California pop influences with a very modern sensibility. The band’s sophomore project favors clean-edged guitar lines and swirling synthesizers, giving Tessa Murray’s winsome vocals a silvery aural patina. There’s an ‘80s pop sensibility here that recalls everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Mr. Mister, along with a moody sensuality suggestive of Selebrities and Chairlift. Organic and artificial textures merge to create a spacy fairyland that's at once sinister and inviting; it's heard in the tingling washes and billowing rhythms of “The Trip,” “All I Know," and similar tracks. Producer/chief songwriter Greg Hughes backs Murray with austere Krautrock beats (“Berlin Lovers”), gleaming synth backdrops (“Future Age”), and slow, eerie atmospherics (“We Killed the Moonlight”). Though radiating an ethereal presence, Murray reveals a yearning, almost desperate edge at times, cutting through the robotic throb of tracks such as “Beatcity” with palpable desire. Here, Still Corners does it all with a blend of studio precision and darkly obsessive emotion.