Toronto-based dance-rock band
Controller.Controller bears a certain stylistic resemblance to the hordes of retro-new wave acts of the new millennium, but they're no mere revivalists: this group fuses those influences into something genuinely exciting. The five-piece is led by the commanding vocal presence of Nirmala Basnayake, whose voice moves easily from a seductive purr to a sharp bark, sometimes in the space of a line. Underneath her vocals, the band perfectly blends the angular, clashing guitar lines of
Gang of Four or
the Au Pairs with the supple rhythms of prime
New Order, a mix that has the power of the best punk rock and the danceability of classic disco.
Duran Duran famously claimed that they wanted to blend
the Sex Pistols with
Chic, but songs like "PF" and the aggressive but enticing "Poison/Safe" are much closer to that mark than "Hungry Like the Wolf" ever got. ~ Stewart Mason