Fresh from releasing their second full album New Cells, Dead Boy Robotics are heading into the end of the year on a high.
If you haven’t come across them already, the Edinburgh trio’s new album is best described as brooding, dark electro-rock. Drenched in reverb as if the whole recording was fittingly recorded in an abandoned church, the album shows us a band finding home in a new sound.
Their previous material, led by the debut self-titled album, had much more of a straight-up electro sound and in my opinion suffered as a result as Mike Bryant’s fantastic voice would often get smothered by the keys and various effects. The new, more defined sound allows each instrument in the band’s line-up to both stand-out in its own way as well as blending to foster a more coherent composition.
Recorded at Tape in Edinburgh and mastered in New York, New Cells contains several stand-out tracks, but my favourite has to be album opener “Lost.” It may not be the most musically complex track that the band has to offer, but being a sucker for a good tune with some nice pop-sensibilities, its ebb and flow and catchy hooks have kept me coming back for multiple listens.
The band seems to building up a strong—and deserved—list of admirers, especially in their native Scotland, and while they don’t appear to have any live dates toward the end of this year, keep an eye out for announcements in 2016.
New Cells is available now via Brothers Grimm. Limited edition colour vinyl will be available in 2016.
