There is something of the old school disco blended with the pop end of the New Romantics at the heart of Shy Spells latest release Between Us. Not in a retro, rose-tinted or plagiaristic way, but it does seem to beat with an older, musically wiser and certainly more fun heart whilst being wrapped in slick and modern indie-dance trappings.
This is a version of the late 70’s/early 80’s that didn’t quite exist but had it done it would have fitted right in, an alternative reality that would have happened if Sheffield had been a suburb of New York and those bored kids rewiring broken synths to their musical wills had actually had a more vibrant scene to exploit and experience.
And for all it’s backward glances it still manages to be moving forward, part of the here and now rather than the rose-tinted retro brigade. For those too young to remember things first time around Shy Spell give you the chance to experience some of the cooler musical aspects of that era and this time around there isn’t a leg warmer or shoulder pad in sight.
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