Alien Skin – Negative Plus (Album – Alien Skin)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: George Pappas strikes back with the fourteenth album of his Alien Skin project. He’ll always be connected with the famous Australian 80s formation Real Life but that was in a former life. After having released several albums on the Russian label ScentAir Records this work is a self-released production.
Content: Alien Skin stands for nostalgia; pure retro-like Electro-Pop although with a contemporary touch on top. Most of the songs are evasive and pretty minimal but also featuring melancholic passages, electronic ballads and a few more danceable parts.
+ + + : I especially like the vintage sound treatments which are clearly into the 80s spirit. The analogue sounds have this part of magic. Alien Skin also is a band with a very own approach; not the kind of band you’ll compare to another. I like the more minimal and even somewhat inhibited “I Keep A Photo Of You”, the danceable “The Sedative Is Wearing Off” and the melodic, evasive, “Now Or Never”.
– – – : I honestly didn’t experience this work as Alien Skin’s best one. I’m missing some passion and too many songs without a true climax. From a very personal point of view I’ve never been a huge fan of songs ending with a fade out; which however was a typical 80s trick.
Conclusion: Respect for the long and prolific career of this artist but this is not the album I would recommend to discover Alien Skin.
Best songs: “I Keep A Photo Of You”, “The Sedative Is Wearing Off”, “Now Or Never”.
Rate: 6.
Artist: www.facebook.com/alienskinmusic
Side-Line previously covered the release of “Negative Plus”, a 14-track pro-analog 80s album.
About Alien Skin
Alien Skin is the solo project of Australian musician George Pappas, active since 2008. He was previously a member of Real Life, the Australian synth/new wave band that topped the 1984 charts with “Send Me An Angel”. Pappas has released more than fourteen Alien Skin albums, several of them through the Russian label ScentAir Records, and is featured on Side-Line’s own charity Bandcamp compilation “Post Punk (Genesis)” (2021) with the track “Cold War Pop”. “Negative Plus” is his fourteenth Alien Skin album, released as a self-released, pro-analog production.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
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