Say Yes Dog were a band formed out of necessity. Unable to score any tickets to Germany's Fusion festival then just bandmates-to-be Aaron, Pascal and Paul asked a friend to video them playing music, submitting the video in an attempt to get a spot performing. That got them in, but left them needing to write enough songs to fill a set. The end result was their 2013 EP A Friend, and now their debut album Plastic Love.
Say Yes Dog create the kind of introspective electronic pop records fans of Hot Chip and Metronomy swoon over. If there is a clear difference between the Say Hes Dog and those bands it is that the production on Plastic Love favours function over form.
The bouncy electronic melodies on single Stronger feel like they are there in support of the band's vocal harmonies - propelling the track whilst making space for those big hooks. The electronic instrumentation is still a core part of the band's appeal - it just feels a little less contrived, clean and timeless where others mimic and riff.
Plastic Love is packed with a kind of bespectacled and studious style of music. Ernest, eager and emotionally open - on Hold Me falsetto vocals croon "Hold me tonight before I give myself up" recreating a heartfelt plea for support. You Want My Love attempts to assert confidence in its refrain of "you want my love so bad / I want your love so bad" yet the lyrics elsewhere betray a nervous feeling of love slipping gently slipping through your fingers.
And so Plastic Love will appeal to fans of a certain style of emotive electronic pop. Much like the early work of their aforementioned contemporaries it doesn't feel like this debut album has enough to stand-out as a crossover album... The sophisticated pop ambitions hinted at on Stronger, Girlfriend and the beautifully vulnerable Before I Go are never quite realised in full... Yet that almost makes me appreciate this album more - it is a simple, touching mission statement from a band with huge promise... An album made for gloomy autumnal evenings, cherished memories, pining and ransom pangs of mild melchanoly.
Plastic Love is released this Friday via Diskodogs Records / Cargo, order through iTunes. Check out new single Plastik below: