The Big Pink – Future This

Two years on from their acclaimed debut A Brief History of Love, this London-based electro-shoegaze duo here augment the narcotic atmospheres of that record with a remarkably assured pop sensibility. From the opener Stay Gold, which embellishes the amped-out melodic loops of Sleigh Bells with more densely-layered samples, Future This combines irrepressible exuberance with painstaking detail. The record was mixed by Alan Moulder, whose CV includes Loveless, and MBV’s influence is evident in the rich textures and slow-mo guitar washes.

As with M83, the insistent earnestness may grate for some listeners. The emotional touchstones here are 80s feelgood cinema and pop, and it’s really only on the two closing tracks that a welcome air of genuine melancholy creeps in. That sentimentality is, however, realised in deeply memorable songs, which weave samples, drum loops, guitars and synths into such a gorgeously cohesive tapestry that to demand a greater emotional range is perhaps to miss the point.