It's perhaps best to get things straight from the start - this is not a typical Luke Salter album. It's rather an ambitious, if not downright radical, departure from his previous electronic work.
This is his first release on Mute, since his recent switch from Novamute, and it features ten new tracks.
It's a much more commercial offering, drawing, whether intentionally or unintentionally, on influences such as Soft Cell, Kraftwerk, and Mute stalwarts, Depeche Mode. Although Luke is best known for forward-thinking techno, here he has teamed up with The Aloof's Ricky Barrow to deliver an album of electronic pop.
'Alright On Top' is geared to move Luke away from his DJ roots, and into the live arena. Nine of the tracks feature Ricky's distinctive, and rather heavenly, vocals.
The forthcoming single, 'Nothing At All', kicks it all off with a punch. It's a catchy slice of power pop merged with abrupt electronics and Ricky's powerful voice.
Drum and bass-influenced techno is juxtaposed against melodic vocals on the beautiful 'Only You', and the effect is very uplifting. It's a great showcase for Ricky's soulful vocals and everything comes together brilliantly here. These are just begging for a good live performance and radio play.
At other times, the results of this new direction are mixed. 'Stars and Heroes' is steeped in 80's-influenced synth pop, giving the track a bit of nostalgic charm, but the effect is dated, rather than futuristic.
More experimental tracks, like 'Twisted Kind Of Girl', may have a kind of kitsch appeal, but in some places Luke seems to employ too many excesses of the decade that brought us Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
Digging even deeper into the 80's vaults, 'I Can Complete You' really overloads the vocoder-over-synths formula.
The vaguely Visage-influenced 'Take Us Apart' is a bombardment of synths with orchestral effect.
Arpeggios run up and down racing beats, and there's more vocoder again. The effect is too much, rather than just enough.
Almost as an afterthought, Luke returns to his more familiar tough beats on 'Doctor Of Divinity', but it never quite reaches the dizzy heights of thumping dancefloor devastators like last years' 'All Exhale'. Perhaps that's the point. This is a pop album, not a collection of twelve-inchers for DJs.
It's a collaboration that might be expected to work brilliantly, but at times the results are just a bit perplexing. On the whole, the tracks fail to capture the imagination as they could.
The album takes an aim at future pop, but remains rooted in the past, without the forward thrust Luke is more than capable of.
He is certainly taking a bold step, but whether it is in the right direction remains at large. He with be touring along with Ricky and a full band line up for the first time this year. Until then, the jury is out.
