(Roadrunner/Shock)

Dutch producer Tom ‘Junkie XL’ Holkenborg has certainly seen his star rise in recent years, with film soundtrack production work for ‘Matrix Revolutions’ and ‘Team America’ under his belt as well as THAT remix of Elvis Presley’s ‘A Little Less Conversation’ – heck, he’s even just emerged fresh from remixing Coldplay’s latest single ‘Talk’. This first single to be lifted from Junkie XL’s upcoming fourth album ‘Today’ (released April 24) offers the first preview of what Holkenborg is touting as being a return to basics as well as to the more guitar-based sound of his first two albums, and an attempt to create ‘ten great tracks’ rather than the expansive conceptualism in evidence on offerings such as ‘Saturday 3AM.’

Included here in its radio edited form, ‘Today’ shows Holkenborg sticking to safe big-room house styles in what unfortunately comes across similar to a pale imitation / homage to New Order, some jangly Sumner-esque guitar riffery clinging to the punching 4/4 house beats alongside a fairly non-descript male vocal that’s hampered by one of the more forgettable chorus hooks in recent memory (“And it feels like today / So just hold it tight and let it slip away”). While all of Holkenborg’s detailed production approach is clearly in evidence here, as a longtime JXL fan, ‘Today’ has me hoping for far stronger moments in store on the upcoming full-length effort – as it is, this first taste comes across somewhere near third-rate Infusion, or perhaps even Planet Funk. Disappointing.

Check out http://www.junkiexl.com.