The Singles Jukebox

In which we are somewhat interested in the idea of a new Pendulum album…

[Video][Website]
[6.12]

Will Adams: You guys, Pendulum is coming back. So why not get a solid promotional single in advance of this news? Swire’s influence is palpable on “Breathe”: in addition to his enjoyable brand of self-seriousness, the song offers a brief diversion for the consistent uptempo of its ambitious parent album Opus. Eric Prydz, whose past few years have been far more sophisticated than the massive “Call On Me” might suggest, whips up a hybrid rock-synthwave production. In between the heavy drums, a winding melody provides the accelerated calm of late night driving on the freeway.
[7]

Scott Mildenhall: This sounds like a nu metal singer making a barely off-course collaboration with The Crystal Method in 2001, or in other words, Pendulum. The difference is that Pendulum’s singles actually went somewhere, and with unselfconscious vigour. Rob Swire’s self-important drone found a home there — he held their colour, or something — but when matched with Prydz’ own drone, it all gets a bit attritional.
[5]

Iain Mew: The latest in questions I didn’t realise needed answering — what if Depeche Mode had joined forces with the Amiga demoscene? Really needs some big wavy text to be complete, but I’ll take it without.
[6]

Jonathan Bogart: I’m sure if I went looking for it I could drown in so much vaguely psychedelic trance as to make this sound run-of-the-mill, but since I haven’t and won’t, it comes as something of a relief.
[7]

Cassy Gress: I don’t know if they still do this, but when I was in high school, Friday night on the radio was effectively “horrible club remix night.” I hated driving anywhere on Friday nights because all I listened to was the pop station and the alt-rock station, and this effectively chopped out half of my radio variety.  Around the same time, I had a good friend who was big into Pure Moods and used to listen to it every night falling asleep.  I remember spending the night at her house, and it was 4 AM and we were lying on the floor in sleeping bags and she had passed out hours before and I was wide awake listening to “Return to Innocence” and “Sadeness” looping and looping.  (Why I didn’t turn it off is a very good question that I will chalk up to being very awkward.)  Listening to this reminds me of those two memories mixed together.  But oddly, even though neither of those memories is a particularly good one, this is sort of the rose-tinted glasses version of them.
[7]

Edward Okulicz: Has more utility as background music while I play some late 80s video game on MAME (I’m thinking Strider, mostly) than as an accompaniment to any kind of actual movement, and the vocal gives me a psychosomatic blocked nose, but I don’t hate this. Not a bit.
[7]

Brad Shoup: Swire’s down in the mix, doing some sort of LaTour thing, and the cosmic synth trill can’t pick up all the slack. I do dig the midnight-cruising vibe, but this needed to be loads scarier.
[5]

Alfred Soto: Rob Swire would have appeared on a Chemical Bros track if they’d had less dignity.
[5]