Escort originally made their name as an impressively tight live disco band, but there are less traces of those origins on their sophomore album, Animal Nature. This time around they’ve mixed in more references to various post-disco NYC club sounds, with nods to 80s boogie, 90s tribal house and the gospel-influenced deep house sounds of producers like Masters at Work and Blaze. It’s not a huge departure, though, and they still drop a few traditional Salsoul-style disco tracks to satisfy their long-time fans.
They’ve never been a completely retro band, and many of the new songs feel pretty close to contemporary dance pop. Unfortunately, those tendencies are their weakest, and occasionally sap the energy and dull the edge of the grooves. On the bright side, if you find that aspect of their sound too cheeseball, the second half of the album is full of tastefully restrained remixes, including some great reworkings by people like Little Boots and Morgan Geist, as well as by the band themselves. A solid offering that could have been improved by swapping some of the remixes for the originals.
Top track: Body Talk
