Nedry: 'In a Dim Light'

It's expected that any new electro-pop group is going to produce Portishead comparisons (no one wants to be compared to Moby or The Supreme Beings of Leisure), but Beach House? What the hell are some bloggers smoking? Nedry, a dark electronic trio hailing from London, are hardly a bunch of Baltimore dream poppers (all due respect) because they've done something far more significant than write studiocraft-heavy escapist indie. In a Dim Light (their sophomore LP) melds many bass-oriented sub-genres of EDM with the vocal musings of Ayu Okakita, who is as metamorphic as her multi-instrumentalists Matt Parker and Chris Amblin. But the beauty is in how Nedry seems to want to be this generation's Massive Attack. Excessively syncopated breakbeats (so mechanical you can almost smell the gunmetal) dominate an otherwise dystopian yet beautiful sonic landscape, populated by live and electronic instrumentation. The binding is Okakita's vocals, often evoking Björk ("I Would Rather Explode") but also recalling Karen O at her rawest ("TMA"). Collectively, the trio cloak glitch ("Post Six"), drum 'n' bass ("Home"), and dub-step ("Violaceae") in the cape of moody electro pop. If Massive had refused to settle into band adulthood, they likely would have sounded like this.

★★★★ (out of 5 stars)