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REVIEW: Tanlines 'Mixed Emotions'

27 March 2012 | 4:00 pm | Staff Writer

'Mixed Emotions', the debut from Brooklen duo Tanlines, is a fine balancing act of nostalgia and hope.

Mixed Emotions is the debut long-player from Brooklyn (where else?) duo TANLINES. Eric Emm (vocals, guitar) and Jesse Cohen (drums, keyboard, bass) make up the pair who got acquainted back in 2008, hit shit off quick sticks -- yadda yadda yadda -- here they are today, getting love in far off places. It's that easy, kids!

Being cooked up in a studio, Mixed Emotions has a heavy electronic flavour, and is guided by a recipe of computer beats layered with synthetic percussion, keyboards and the odd plucky guitar line. The squeaky clean production and regular use of vocal effects provide a sonically spacious arena for these songs to wash over us. With that in mind, this thing isn't a dance record, it's an indie-pop album that you won't be able to resist moving to.

As a theme, the mixed emotions are perhaps most apparent in the contrast between the lyrical subject matter and the breezy balearic vibes that emanate from these songs (think Delorean or The Tough Alliance). Taking on a contemplative and at times melancholic tone, Emm's voice is regularly at odds with the relatively sunny picture being painted by the instrumental elements, but never clashing with them. It's a skillful balancing act that gives the songs an emotional depth that wouldn't exist otherwise.

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Hype builders 'Brothers' and 'All Of Me' were pushed out as singles prior to the album's release, but there are numerous other highlights here. 'Not The Same' brings in dramatic violin cameos and a snarling Emm, while 'Real Life', a carry over from their 2010 EP, parachutes us onto a Caribbean beach where we're assured that our fears are strictly "a past-life thing".

There's a familiarity to this record that's comforting, but it also expresses the uncertainty that the duo were dealing with while writing it. Unexpectedly evicted from their studio and virtual home which Emm had built some years earlier with his brother, Tanlines were faced with a period of change which in turn prompted the chance for reflection. The nostalgia brought on by a chapter of their lives ending seems countered somewhat by the possibilities in what lay ahead, and it's this see-saw effect of feeling both emotions at once that is perfectly captured in these twelve tracks. The dynamic between these guys has been nailed; let's hope we continue to hear both sides of their story.

Tanlines is out now through Remote Control Records.

Words by Brad Davies.