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Album Reviews
Album Review: Official Secrets Act – Understanding Electricity (One Little Indian)
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 30 March 2009
Initially I had my reservations about this band. After hearing each of their singles in turn I still failed to understand them. They appeared to me to reside among the slew of unexciting synth/guitar indie bands that dwell on the tip of Zane Lowe’s Radio One radar, occasionally getting played but resulting in nothing substantial. However, after listening to ‘Understanding Electricity’ I think I finally understand. It is in Tom Burke’s gentle, humble, intelligent vocals, it is in the subtle play between the lead instruments and it is in the excellently composed harmonies that resound through the album’s entirety. Although I still have little time for the album’s singles I have found alternative routes to enjoyment: ‘A Head For Herod’ is both the album’s emotional centrepiece and its strongest proponent. It is deft and stunning, bringing in singer Holly Jazz (who appears five times on the album) to the fore which acts as a perfect complement to Burke. Other standout tracks include ‘Little Birds’; which plays loose (yet it really works) with the lead riff of Billy Ocean’s disco classic ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’, ‘Mainstream’, the opener, sounds like a modern day Pulp, and ‘Under The Flightpath’ straddles funk rhythm and tender psychedelia to create something quite lovely indeed. Surprising and charming, if a little hit or miss, ‘Understanding Electricity’ certainly made me rethink my position about the intriguing Official Secrets Act. SJS
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