Album Review: The Beat Is... by Alphabeat

When the pristine power pop of Alphabeat's eponymous domestic debut was buffed up and made over into the even shinier, synthier version of itself that became their gleamingly fluorescent international debut (retitled This Is Alphabeat), it sure seemed like the Danish sextet had hit some kind of insurmountable limit, an ultimate pinnacle of pure pop that just couldn't get any brighter or peppier. That turned out not to be the case, however: The Beat Is... (which, like its predecessor, sports a different title from its Danish counterpart, The Spell, as well as a marginally revised track sequence) is an even glossier, more unabashedly poptastic affair than their first album.

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Alphabeat's debut album was an unexpected joy: cheesy and slightly naff, but performed with such vigour and joy that it was irresistible – it cheerled for 80s pop without ever getting arch or stylised. Its follow-up tries to repeat the trick, but takes as its model the early 90s, when the singles charts were full of house-pop acts having a hit or two each before disappearing back whence they came. The glee that infused that first album has been swamped by endless staccato synth or piano riffs, all of which sound like a score of minor hits from a generation ago.

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Two years ago, [a]Alphabeat[/a], a Danish six-piece apparently played by the cast of Lazytown, were heralded as the future of pop. Then, despite their debut charting in the Top 10, EMI dropped them for financial reasons. Now signed to Polydor, they’re back with the abrupt musical swerve that is [b]‘The Beat Is…’[/b]. What that ellipsis leads on to is [b]Shannon[/b], [b]Black Box[/b], [b]Madonna[/b] and, in its most dubious of moments, [b]Whigfield[/b].

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A nadir for a group once heralded as purveyors of the very brightest pop. Mike Diver 2010 Looking back at the acclaim lavished upon Alphabeat’s debut album, This Is Alphabeat, in 2008, one wonders if those responsible for this platter of past-perishable pop mimicry, these clichéd regurgitations of ubiquitous motifs, are indeed the same Danes who wowed admirers of sparkly melodies and insatiable hooks only a single springtime equinox ago. The Lady might be Gaga for them, taking them out as UK support on her Monster Ball jaunt, but with The Beat Is… – titled The Spell in their homeland – Alphabeat seem certain to alienate first-album acolytes.

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