Album Review: Blanc Burn by Blancmange

The bumph enclosed with Blancmange's first album since 1985 flags up their influence on acts such as La Roux, but on Blanc Burn the duo themselves have left most of their 80s sound in the 80s. Though some of the old sensibility is detectable – mainly in the lyrics' gloomy worldview (epitomised by I'm Having a Coffee's Pooterish line "The fuse has bust on the plug on the telly/ There's something strange at the back of the fridge") and their penchant for Asian flavours such as sitars – you'd hardly recognise them as first-wave synth-poppers. Blanc Burn (a pun on singer Neil Arthur's home town, Blackburn, excruciatingly enough) contains almost too many styles and textures, from Hot Chippy glitchtronica to creepy spoken word, but each twist is fresh and arresting.

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