Released: October 18th 2008

Lo and Ben are the heart of Heartsrevolution, which they’ve branded as an “Anime trash pop” band or, something a bit more palatable, “electro-punk.” In the vein of Crystal Castles, it’s less about melody and more about noise; far from garage rock, it’s all about the beats and switches of a complicated keyboard with prerecorded samples.

Starting with “Switchblade,” it all sounds well and good until Lo’s singing cuts into the layered techno. Sometimes the vocals are a muddled noise in the background, sometimes it’s high-pitched, childish screaming. The former is very much preferred. There’s some glam in the track “Dance Until Dawn,” probably the most straightforward dance song on the EP, but it doesn’t save the overall impression of this aural mess.

The NME may have decided to brand Heartsrevolution as one of its “top 50 bands, artists and innovators driving music forward,” but, in this case, it’d be more accurate to amend that last to “most headache inducing.”

Previously published on The Owl Mag.