Confidence Man - Tilt

Confidence Man’s 2018 debut sure lived up to its title: ‘Confident Music For Confident People’ was cheeky, brash and packed with deadpan silliness. A gleeful whizz through ‘90s electronica by a group who knew exactly what they were trying to do. Second time around, ‘Tilt’ isn’t quite so sure of itself. Like trying to host the party of the year while still on a comedown, it’s not quite as able to keep the momentum going but still has plenty of moments to get down to. Janet Planet’s Valley Girl schtick was front and centre to Confidence Man’s fun. The icing on the fluorescent cake. Here she pivots closer to house diva. Sometimes it works, as on the glitter cannon explosion of ‘It Feels Like A Different Thing’, but often it doesn’t, as with opener ‘Woman’, which promises that same bratty persona then falls a bit limp. And yet when the brattiness does rear its head, it’s also with mixed results. ‘Break It Bought It’ is everything that made that debut so intoxicating, with its brash, witty delivery. But ‘Angry Girl’ feels one-note, a crudely-drawn stereotype without the sense of humour. ‘Tilt’ feels stuck halfway between a band wanting to be taken seriously and the band who won so many over by not giving a shit what anyone thinks. Their knack for incredible hooks is still there (see ‘Holiday’, the very definition of an earworm), but the effortless fun seems to have fallen by the wayside.