Neon Neon is the collaborative vision of Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) and the eclectic Boom Bip. Their concept album "Stainless Style" (dropped yesterday) places the 80s before a mirror and demands a thorough evaluation of its good (and sometimes bad) moments. Calling "Stainless Style" a concept album isn't a slight, in fact the band describes the record as being themed around the life of John Delorean, the brilliant and ultimately tragic mind behind De Lorean Motor Company (you may know his most famous design, the DMC-12, better as the time-traveling car from Back To The Future). Delorean proves an excellent muse and his life a microcosm of the decade, but like any source of inspiration it only translates well if the artists are able to mold the material into their own. Neon Neon absorb all of the sounds of the 80s and reconfigure them into something new (aside from maybe "I told her on Alderaan" which I'm still not convinced isn't Huey Lewis & the News) though all along it remains clear the source of their inspiration. "I Lust You" is dripping with slick synthesizers and hooks while the male/female vocals play off one other before coming together for a swirling chorus. Welsh singer Cate Le Bon guests on the track and trades her lines with Rhys in a dead-pan manner before loosening up her delivery for the refrain. The song establishes sonic boundaries with the vocals and synthesizers and though it ebbs and flows within the construct it never fully breaks out at any point. It works well as do other highlights from the album such as Dream Cars (featuring the drumming talents of Fab Moretti from the Strokes) and Raquel.
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