Husband and wife duo, Fox (ex-Fight Like Apes) & Bex packed up their lives in Dublin and headed for Berlin during lockdown. Armed with drum machines, synths and their dog, they recorded what would become Love Command0‘s debut album, Integration. As you can tell, it is four years after the beginning of the pandemic so this wasn’t a rush job and thusly, Integration is not a stripped down affair like Bo Burnham’s Inside or Taylor Swift‘s Folklore. Instead it is filled with layers–not only of drums, synths, and vocals–but of various movie soundclips. It gives the listener insight into what the couple thought and felt during the lockdown but also what they watched.
The album begins with “Night Creep” which is perhaps the most directly referenced song. It is hard not to see the title, hear the creeping synth bass mixed with movie clips and not think of Kavinsky’s 2010 classic “Nightcall.” Although “Night Creep” is a bit faster and features many more movie clips, it is still hard to shake the similarities.
After that, things diverge a bit. The album’s lead single, “Guilty” is steeped in 80s kitsch. With bouncing synth bass and pitch-shifted vocals on the chorus, the track makes for one of the catchiest on the album. On the otherhand, “Birthday Girl” veers into the psychedelic range with fully computerized vocals. It ends up sounding like Super Moth Black Rainbow.
Those are the two extremes but there are plenty of tracks that fall somewhere in between. The instrumental of “We are Love Command 0” is reminiscent of “Funky Town” while Bex does her best Kim Gordon impression on vocals. “Make it Right” is more similar to Installation Sonore-era Rinôçérôse. Whatever the style, Love Command0 makes it their own. It creates an album that is filled with twists and turns and danceable grooves.
Rating: 6.3/10
