Out on March 21st synth-pop-indie excellence awaits.

After a thirteen-year gap between their first and second albums Canadian synthpop group Desire have only taken three years to get their third album out and with over twenty tracks the creativity has clearly been flowing. If anything, this is an over-generous collection and pruning back the foliage might have let the roses shine that bit more brightly.

Opening track ‘DARKSIDE’ is like the Stranger Things theme tune reinterpreted by fellow Canadian The Weeknd, i.e. bloody brilliant. ‘Dangerous Drug’ ups the Giorgio Moroder vibes and is five minutes of excellence mixing between English and French. The next couple of tracks lean a bit more into Pet Shop Boys from around the ‘Very’ era. ‘Sometimes’ returns to the Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein Stranger Things soundtrack interpretations.

There are a number of very competent tracks that disappear somewhat amidst a feeling of repetition or being not as good as some of the other work here. Amongst it all there is an intriguing cover of Taylor Dane’s ‘Tell It To My Heart’ that slows the original down a touch.

Fans of Confidence Man or Felix Da Housecat will greatly enjoy ‘Drama Queen.’

Befittingly for a band called ‘Desire’ many of the tracks revolve around love, lust and sexual relations. For a lot of people, a couple of tracks will let you know how you feel about this album. If you like synths, Georgio Moroder and Stranger Things you are probably going to really enjoy this album. If you don’t get on with the start, I doubt anything that comes later is going to change your mind. As a Pet Shop Boys and a Stranger Things fan I enjoyed this a lot.