Class Actress - Rapprocher

Pre-Class Actress, we heard a reserved Elizabeth Harper. With airy vocals set against acoustic strumming and the occasional addition of a tentative synth bleep. Harper was not an artist vying for attention and thumping at every doorway in town, rather she was delicate and understated, softly knocking at your door and asking in hushed tones if you would at all mind listening to her music.

Oh how things change. With the addition of two bandmates, Class Actress’ debut is a far more self-assured record than anything we’ve heard from Harper before, whilst still managing to retain the breathy vocal quality and the softness that made the ‘Journey Of Ardency’ EP so hypnotic. So ‘Rapprocher’ has a stronger sense of conviction about it, but what else?

The lyrics are coy and romanticised throughout, and also intelligently written. Harnessing the good old lyrical favourite of tragic love, Harper is kind of like a sassy, slightly more upbeat version of Morrissey, with far fewer lyrics about being ploughed to death by 10 tonne trucks. ‘All The Saints’ is a fantastic track with its New Order-esque bassline and a hook that could easily be taken from one of those cheesy 80’s songs on a Playstation dance-mat. ‘Keep You’ stands out as another highlight; with plenty of vocal gymnastics on the chorus set against barbed synths and a propulsive beat. Very disco indeed.

This album does have moments of weakness too. ‘Prove Me’ seems to lack the wild energy that other tracks thrive on, it’s more suited to wandering alone through deserted city backstreets than to getting down on the dance floor. Missed is also a bit hit and miss – although slating it seems unfair because essentially it’s not a terrible track. On a compilation of fairly mediocre moody dubstep it would stand up just fine, but because we know that Class Actress are far more inventive than that it does slightly disappoint.

Enlisting electronic sounds and feel-good disco hooks, this album has a definite touch of the early Madonna about it, and it feels like a delightfully guilty pleasure. Everyone universally is guilty of picking up the hairbrush and thrashing around to cheesy synth-pop, and those who claim not to partake in such tasteless things are most probably lying. ‘Rapprocher’ buys into this completely, and on the whole negotiates with ease the stumbling blocks that cause most 80’s revival albums to fall flat on their arse.