Emotional Technology is no great departure from the cinematic landscape of
Brian Transeau's excellent last album, the diverse Movement in Still Life. Keeping with that album's attention to detail and seamless flow from track to track, Emotional Technology differs by being more ambitious, personal, and in the end a bit less satisfying. "The Great Escape" goes on a bit too long, that vocal-stutter effect shows up way too often, and some of the segues and bridges only serve to get to the next song or hook. All these things wouldn't even be noteworthy if Movement in Still Life didn't set such a high standard. The rest of the hectic, polished, and widescreen album works just fine. The electro-slap of
Hybrid comes to mind on the
Guru-guesting "Knowledge of Self," the video game noises and solid rock & roll of "Superfabulous" is mega-uplifting, and "Somnambulist" almost equals "Never Gonna Come Back Down" for pop-trance perfection.
BT does a decent job delivering the vocals on six of the songs, and the guest appearances from Brain,
Tommy Stinson,
Rose McGowan, and
JC Chasez of
*NSYNC are all purposeful. Just a shade less stunning than his last full-length, Emotional Technology at least establishes him as one of the better album constructors in the singles-driven world of dance. ~ David Jeffries