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Cincinatti-based producer Bryan Hollon (aka Boom Bip) certainly offered hints as to where he was headed with this latest collaborative venture as Neon Neon alongside former Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys with last year’s ‘Sacchrilege’ EP, which showed him moving away from his previous leftfield hiphop leanings towards a considerably more accessible electro-house sound. Ostensibly fashioned as an electro/pop concept album, ‘Stainless Style’ centres around the eventful life of ‘playboy engineer’ John Delorean (yes, the designer of the ‘Back To The Future’ car) , charting his rise to celebrity (and Raquel Welch-dating) status, and eventual fall from grace via bankruptcy and cocaine smuggling scandals.
While the above certainly provides some eighties-centric subject matter that goes beautifully with Hollon’s day-glo electro and New Wave pop-dominated production, ironically, it’s ‘Stainless Style’s emphasis on exploring a variety of different stylistic genres that occasionally proves to be its Achilles heel. Preceding singles ‘Raquel’ and ‘Trick For Treat’ certainly set the expectations high here, with their respective explorations into Italo-tinged electro-pop and Spank Rock-assisted crunked-up hyphy, and in truth it’s the more ‘electronics-focused’ offerings here that frequently provide the biggest delights. The booming, digi-dancehall centred ‘Sweat Shop’ certainly offers up plenty of seismic thrills as Gruff Rhys trades ragga verses with guest vocalists Yo Majesty over a thundering backdrop of rhythms that calls to mind The Bug going head-to-head with Stereotyp.
Elsewhere, the appearance of The Pharcyde’s Fatlip on synth-edged hiphop moment ‘Luxury Pool’ manages to lyrically encapsulate Delorean’s entire rise and fall in just four minutes, with Fatlip recasting his hunger for success as the classic ‘poor boy gets rich and then gets poor again’ hiphop tale. Unfortunately, it’s the more guitar pop/rock-geared moments here nodding towards Gruff Rhys’ SFA days that represent the more uneven selections here – while ‘Dream Cars’ and ‘I Told Her On Alderaan’ offer up perfectly serviceable (if lightweight) radio-friendly pop in a vein curiously similar to Duran Duran, ‘Steel Your Girl’ represents the nadir here, sinking into a swamp of Oasis-esque turgidity that resembles Britpop circa 1996. That said, while slightly on the uneven side overall, with judicious use of the ‘skip’ button, ‘Stainless Style’ reveals its fair share of strong moments.
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