Eat Sugar start their debut full-length with the post-punky “Standing Still” before completely switching up their sound with “The Revivalist,” a song that sounds like a great lost
LCD Soundsystem outtake. From here on, the album sticks to electro-pop for the rest of the ride, with dancefloor-oriented material that rarely involves guitar, but vocalist Aidan Bogosian and the boys still manage to pack the energetic punch of a live band.
The Faint make similar-sounding fuzzy synth-based rock, as do
Enon, which is a natural comparison, since
Enon's John Schmersal produced
¡Levántense! He adds a slick fidelity to the band’s boiling performance, and combined, the vibe is excellent for shaking the floor of hipster clubs. Bassist Jim Reynolds and drummer Greg Poneris provide a tight, fast-paced, rhythmic backbeat and Mike McBride adds clever, tasteful synth lines, while Bogosian plays the party-starter, alternating between crooning and riling up his audience. If there’s a discrediting factor, it would be that, in 2011, the group is coming in late on a worn trend. Ultimately, however, dancing and rocking will always be popular, and even if
Eat Sugar don’t have the quirky star power of, say,
Franz Ferdinand, they are invariably an exciting, talented young band. ~ Jason Lymangrover