Two Door Cinema Club’s latest album, Gameshow, certainly makes for a challenging listen. Although the band have well and truly stepped away from their comfort zone, a move that has been encouraged following their last two albums, their new release is professional yet disorderly. The success of their 2012 release The Beacon has clearly led long term friends and band-mates Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday and Kevin Baird to a crossroads that has unwittingly manifested itself in the form of 80s synth pop. Whether this works with the legacy Two Door Cinema Club have created in the past is questionable.

The album does not stray shockingly far from their usual sound, maintaining the jittery, foot-tapping electro pop that made them so popular back in 2012. Indeed, 80s nostalgia and disco almost sits adjacent to the atmosphere created with The Beacon, partly explaining the conversion. However, the band appear to have not tackled the change quite as well as other bands who have attempted to incorporate this era into their new releases.

It’s not surprising that the band have refocused their efforts in a different direction considering they have been surrounded by criticism regarding their lack of development and direction in the last two albums. Despite Tourist History and Beacon churning out indie pop hits like 'Someday' and 'Undercover Martyn', there were only so many times the band could recycle their money-making riffs.

'Are We Ready? (Wreck)' is a peppy opener to the album but does little to stand out, followed by their anthem-ready single 'Bad Decisions'. You can certainly tell the band have drawn influences from Bowie and Prince in this falsetto-heavy track. Alex Trimble’s lyrics lightly touch on the issue of the internet and the information overload it has created. It appears as though social commentary is a theme lying discretely behind most tracks on this neo-disco creation. 'Ordinary' focuses on a criticism of the celebrity world and suggests that anonymity is the way forward. It feels almost as though Trimble and the band have decided to illustrate the reasoning and feelings behind their 2012 hiatus in this album, although it seems strange that it has been done to a backdrop of synth pop.

Generally the album lacks personality, however, their 80s influences prove themselves relatively positive through the curved guitar solos in 'Fever' and 'Invincible'. These tracks bring the feel of the album up a little and definitely add some zest but, unfortunately, don’t deliver the hard-hitting indie pop vibes that made the band famous or come close to anything that could be considered a hit.

All in all, it feels as though Two Door Cinema Club have worked hard to create something that reflects the creative crossroads that the group have been on. It is admirable that they have attempted to change direction. The hard work and professionalism is obvious in this album. Unfortunately the sound they have created just doesn’t quite work. While their cliché indie pop was samey and safe, it was also undeniably catchy and kept the band’s legacy alive and well. This album seems inconsistent, their move towards 80s disco had potential, but is not memorable enough and the result is relatively uninteresting.
Sian Blewitt

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