Egyptian Hip Hop - Good Don’t Sleep

As the fresh-faced poster boys of the sometime ‘doss pop revolution’, Egyptian Hip Hop penned one of 2009’s finest tracks. ‘Human Wild Child’ was, perhaps unsurprisingly, produced by Late of the Pier’s Sam Eastgate; it was his band to whom the Mancunians were most often compared. An equally brilliant EP followed, the Hudson Mohawke-produced ‘Some Reptiles Grew Wings’, which contained more of the band’s sleek, oddball synth-pop. Now, debut album ‘Good Don’t Sleep’ sees them delve in to more expansive territories.

This may, partly, be down to producer Richard Formby’s thumbprint, as the album’s finest moments come via the swirl of ‘Tobago’ and ‘Pearl Sound’’s lilting middle eight. Both are gorgeous to hear and, intentional or not, owe much to Wild Beasts’ ‘Smother’, which Formby also produced.

Just as graceful is ‘The White Walls’, which, with its downpour of reverberant melodies, echoes Warpaint at their most dazed. Connan Mockasin’s influence - with whom frontman Alex Hewitt recently toured - also looms large. ‘Snake Lane West’ is a trippy journey lacing murky bass lines with distant vocals and, despite its repetitive pace, never becomes tiring.

But amidst such moments of cloudy reverberation and shimmering elegance - both never conflicting - there are still reflections of the band’s madcap past. Lead single ‘SYH’ drags a bubbling beat under before throwing it back out in to the record’s most upbeat chorus, while ‘Illoise’ is a wonderful closer: a soothing song where guitars and synths glide together harmoniously.

Many bands trip over themselves while exploring new ground, but these young chaps - who, we must remember were wrongfully dubbed ‘Egyptian Drip Plop’ by a certain Viva Brother - have done so with graceful ease.