Preteretrospective is the debut double album by The Noise Who Runs that are a collaboration between Frontline Assembly/The Sneaker Pimps legend Ian Pickering and Felipe Goes, this was recorded while Ian was working on The Sneaker Pimps comeback album.
The album opens in an echo chamber for the doomy Beautiful Perhaps that has Death Rock EBM feel to this dark hued song of a relationship coming apart at the seams as the imperious bassline doesn't let up as they keep staring at that picture book looking for answers.
Off The Rails is stripped back electronics with an organ and vocals that wonder exactly how we came to go Off The Rails as spectacularly as we clearly have. Things Fall Apart and you want to sound like Tears For Fears but with a slow dubby edge the odd glitchy sound.
Electronic Babysitter has a bongos and backwards phased guitar intro as this song about a concept so modern and so surreal as monitoring your baby on digital cameras while having that AI robot care for the offspring you barely have time to raise yourself, as the slow shakers try to lull the baby to sleep.
Somewhere Between Dogs And Wolves has a soundtrack feel to it, something bad is about to happen, but what we are not sure as someone creeps through the woods, we see shapes as trees and plants rustle, as they wonder just how it happened and why the vultures are circling once more as they sit listening to Jackanory once more.
So Good It's Free is based around a very familiar tune from the 80's that's been filtered through a prism or too to take it someplace else, into the current sphere where the best things in life are apparently free, as this poppy song spins your head figuring out why you know the tune as the lyrics seep in about the state of the so-called meritocracy.
Zoe's Edible Garden takes us to a more organic lifestyle where you can grow your own food and survive all the madness just like Zoe does on a 60's infused almost power pop style song.
The second disc opens with 2Poor2die that's an anthem for the dispossessed, the downtrodden who can't even afford to die what with the cost of a funeral these days, over foreboding synth pop pulsating like the poor guy's last breaths the vocals laconically relate this sorry tale.
So It Goes has a drum and bass dance opening with synths floating through the mix, as the vocals quietly ask for a more meritocratic society where the pay differential between the bosses and the lower paid workers is far closer than it currently is.
Smile, Smile, Smile is based round what sounds like a late 70's early 80's Casio keyboard line as Ian tells us all the ways he has to try to get us to Smile despite everything happening as he wonders how you keep smiling among the rubble of what used to be normality, you know the good stuff like watching Sneaker Pimps opening for Neneh Cherry et al.
Takes A Long Cold Look Then The Kitchen Sink is one of those song titles that jumps out and works brilliantly on this slow dark song that uses electronica to get to the heart of the malaise.
New York To L.A. In 2 An A Half Minutes isn't played at warp speed although the old school synth noises could imply some sort of sci-fi space travel as you hop across the states like they don't exist.
Under The Sun has an opaque sound to it like you're looking at the sun through a hazy sky, hoping things will clear up, could there be a positive future.
L'Altruisme is slow almost dub step synth ode to the glory of true altruism a thing that seems to be out of style.
The album closes with Beautiful Perhaps (LHT Remix) that isn't that different to the original mix, but feels a little bit more aimed at the radio, still a great song whichever version you hear.
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