TECHNOIR
DELIBERATELY FRAGILE
ALBUM ALFA-MATRIX RELEASE: JANUARY 26, 2007 REVIEW: MARCH 5, 2007


Steffen Gehring and Julia Beyer decided, thank God, to pick up where their fantastic debut album "Groundlevel" so beautifully ended. Technoir retains the accessible pop foundation, but there is plenty of industrial rust around the edges on "Deliberately Fragile".

In itself, it is a tragedy that it has taken the dynamic duo almost six years to craft a second album effort, because it is indeed a cracker! It is becoming more and more rare with albums that keep your finger off the skip button, but this definitely is one of those. Julia's angelic power vocals paired with Gehring's impressive technical and song writing know-how once again prove a mighty combination of melancholia and groovy electropop.

Engaging instrumentals, not just those annoying intros end outros, mix things up between outbursts of tech pop bliss. If you are unfamiliar with Technoir, I suggest you hunt down their first album as soon as possible, as it was released on the now defunct label Bloodline Records. Speaking of Bloodline, whatever happened to Klirrfaktor, another favourite band of mine?

NIKLAS FORSBERG

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