New Order - Music Complete

UK band New Order return with their 10th album and first since 2005. Fans of the band will be enamoured with Music Complete, comprising lengthy pieces with extensive instrumentation, the band back at their best.

Shimmery synth-pop rocker 'Restless' opens the album with lead vocalist Bernard Sumner's laid-back vocals and spidery guitar riffs, it recalls 'Regret'. 'Singularity', 'Academic', and 'The Game' are similar and just as maddeningly catchy with a touch of melancholy.

Elly Jackson of La Roux appears on a trio of songs, the very Giorgio Moroder-ish 'Plastic' (which recalls Donna Summer's "I Feel Love"), the chugging Eurodisco "Tutti Frutti", and "People On The High Line" (with funky Nile Rodgers-style guitars.

The dark atmospheric "Stray Dog" features a growled narration by Iggy Pop, while "Unlearn This Hatred" is the only surrender to contemporary dance sounds before morphing to shimmery rock. Closing is "Superheated" featuring Brandon Flowers and recalling A-Ha's "Take On Me", shiny and bouncy. "Sometimes I wake up, and the sky is red, when you're not here, by my side" go the forlorn lyrics. Great to have them back, and on form.