Heartbreak - Lies

Heartbreak – Lies (Lex)

I remember seeing Heartbreak play live in a café on a dreary Saturday afternoon in Manchester last year as part of the annual Futuresonic festival and immediately being taken aback by the glaring fact that they had the fabled “it”. That being the golden mixture of palpable pop charisma and some good songs.

Whilst the tried and trusted template of silent keyboardist and showman/vocalist in synthpop goes back nearly 30 years, I bet that none are quite as unusual and surreal in their background as Ali Renault and Sebastian Muravchix, who allegedly met in Argentina on the set of a TV soap, where the former was a sound engineer and the latter an actor. A shared love of Italo led to a partnership which eventually crystallised with Heartbreak.

In an age where Italo is nearly 30 years old, it would be easy to accuse Heartbreak of being somewhat contrived, especially when Muravchix dares to dress at times like he’s in Miami Vice, but the big difference is that there’s a naïve charm to them that glosses over this. And in “Regret” and “We’re Back” they possess two beguiling behemoths of pop tunes that threaten at times to overwhelm you. “Regret” in particular showcases Muravchix’s undoubted vocal talents, his voice switching at ease between falsetto and a wicked snarl that accentuate the chorus. You’ll be singing along with the “Woahs!” on this track for a long time. “We’re Back” thunders along like a Black Sabbath-inspired Suicide song with amusing non-sequitur lyrics and a vocal refrain that conjures up the image of “stadium Italo”. Renault’s synths are always upfront in the mix, at times

The rest of the album however doesn’t exactly sit in the shade. “Soul Transplant” furthers the melancholy synth tip, and if you ever wanted to know what vintage Black Dog vs Den Harrow sounded like, then “Don’t Lose My Time” is your answer. Things drop off a bit in the second half, but “Deadly Pong of Love” is possibly the best song title I’ve heard in a while, and is an edgy no-nonsense Hi-NRG/electro number. “Living just for Fun” ends the album in appropriately muted fashion.

There’s a lot of hype about Heartbreak right now, given their somewhat electric live show, but don’t let the fashionista veneer put off looking at a great pop album full of humour and at the heart of it, charisma and tunes. Muravchix possesses genuine popstar potential and he’s offset by the amusing and unique array of influences that Renault brings to the mix in his production. “Lies” is pure pop.

Toby Frith

Comments

[julius]

Great article! Suicide song with amusing non-sequitur lyrics and a vocal refrain that conjures up the image of “stadium Italo”.

[jasa iklan]

thanks a lot dear, im very interesting for your article. im very impresing for this :)

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[fakim]

Thank you for sharing nice song...

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