Rating: NN
Three years after Chromeo released their breakthrough album, Fancy Footwork, the Montreal synth pop duo have blown up and scored a major-label deal south of the border for their third effort, Business Casual. Musically, however, not much is new. Dave-1 and P-Thugg once again capture that 80s radio pop sound with academic precision, waxing lyrical on male vulnerability over increasingly polished production values.
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There isn’t a whiff of mockery in Chromeo’s hard-on for Huey Lewis, but there isn’t much spontaneity either. No matter how smoothly they operate, the single-minded retro focus feels too calculated and their sexual heat as warmed-over as yesterday’s plastic pop star. Business Casual has a few bangers, but over the course of an album, the synth soloing gets old fast. Still, while we wait for a pop saviour to take the genre forward, Chromeo provide a nice enough tribute to its past.
Top track: Night By Night
