Leo Buscaglia philosophised that “Love withers with predictability”. Thus, Beta Band and King Biscuit Time fans will hold distinctly shrivelled affections for Steve Mason’s newest project, the electro outfit Black Affair. Long-noted for the spontaneity of his music and an irrepressible nerdish charm, Pleasure Pressure Point sees Mason attempting to swagger his way through more conventional songs than his back catalogue let on he was capable of.
While it is accepted that electro artists often find it difficult to disguise their antiquated influences, the contemporary comparisons are all-too simple to guess at here. It’s Real immediately evokes Erland Oye with an upbeat chorus and damp synths, though it could just as easily bring to mind an uptempo East 17 hit. Japanese Happening does a good impression of an Italians Do It Better cast-off. Sweet evokes those moments on Tiga’s Sexor where the Canadian crossed dangerously into the cringeworthy, while You And Me opens with a promising Junior Boys-esque arpeggio attack only to be sabotaged by a tacky-sounding bass thump.
The album’s ideas have their finger on the pulse of current electro trends, but its execution veers towards the tackiness of the synth-disco songs which inspire today’s current toast of the indie dance scene, rather than the shadier and more expressive versions they themselves produce. With the retro sheen taken a step to far, PPP’s production values and banal lyrics result in an album of shabby, mainstream-lite, pop-songs. “Pop” has always been applied in a highly complimentary way to describe Mason’s projects. Now it can only be used to describe Black Affair’s debut in the most derogatory fashion. The cried chorus from the album’s first taster, with a slight spelling tweak, says it all: “Tack! Attack! Tack! Attack!”
