Album Review ALASKALASKA - Still Life

Isolation is a word only the most dedicated of introverts aren’t tired of seeing, and yet that’s the vibe that ALASKALASKA’s second puts forward in spades. It’s both via the electronic - the title track, easily the standout doing so via LCD Soundsystem style synth lines and a propelling bassline while Lucinda Duarte-Holman repeats various lines presumably related to our reliance on the plugged-in world: (“I’m looking at the screen… I’m staring at it”) – and the minimalist nature of much of the record - ‘Get Me High’ and ‘Simple’ in particular cold in their aloofness. There’s a disconnect; where previously the group layered sounds to project a kind of warmth, here even the post-punk stabs of ‘Rise and Shine’ lack impact. And while lyrically much relies on repetition, Lucinda’s voice more as instrument of sound than message, the hackneyed “TV dinner / not the news” of ‘TV Dinners’ could only ever prove grating.