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SJD: Dayglo Spectres

Sean Donnelly has dabbled in a great variety of styles through his four previous albums and here he reminds me of a southern hemisphere LCD Soundsystem, stitching together disparate threads of Bowie, Eno, Krautrock, soul, disco and synthpop noise. With a greater proportion of material co-written with SJD bandmates Chris O'Connor (drums) and James Duncan (guitar), the production is even-handed. Each of the SJD albums have been critically-lauded, quality products and here the man continues to provide interesting, and sometimes affecting, entertainment. The President of Mars… twists theta waves, skittering percussion and piano between poles of squarewave bass. Nite Club has a delicious ghostly '80s Shalimar vibe. Instrumental We Come straddles a propulsive bubbling synthline with stereo pan effects. Fire in the Crawlspace is a long-form meditation overrun by malfunctioning gaming machines. Donnelly is digging ever deeper into his bucket of invention and there is no sense that he has reached anywhere near the bottom. In a way 'Dayglo Spectres' harkens back to the beats and keyboards of his first album '3', retreating from the more popular and open vocal gospel tone of 'Southern Lights', but the artist doggedly furrows his own path. This is individual and engaging. Another slam dunk.

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