Erasure — Day-Glo (Based on a True Story): One of the most singular forces in pop

Latest studio album from evergreen synth pop legends completely reinvents their last outing

Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)
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Artist: Erasure
Genre: Electronic Pop
Label: Mute Records

Writing an album from the same source material as your last one isn’t usually a surefire recipe for stoking expectations, but Erasure are not a normal band.

Like the rest of us, Erasure found themselves with a bit more time on their hands in 2020. While manipulating tracks from their recent studio album, The Neon, Vince Clarke discovered a hidden sonic landscape within the record.

These stems were fleshed out by Andy Bell and long-term collaborator Gareth Jones. On paper, it appears to be a highly risky strategy to push this any further, especially seeing as they’ve already released a remix album of these tunes, but coming up with a brand new album of completely different sounding 10 new songs is another testament to just how good they are. Clarke has carved out a career from sprinkling fairy dust on Yazoo and Depeche Mode songs. Yet again, he strikes gold.

Day-Glo (Based on a True Story) contains all the familiar motifs of one of the finest electronic pop bands of the last 40 years. While this isn’t a collection of catchy pop bangers, it’s unmistakably Erasure, exploring themes of love, understanding and positivity in a more introspective and mediative way.

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Initially, Day-Glo (Based on a True Story) sounds like a stripped-back exercise in minimal electronica rather than pop, but repeated listens reveal rich layers of sound brought to new life by one of the most singular forces in pop.

Éamon Sweeney

Éamon Sweeney, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about music and culture