The Aluminum Group
Morehappyness
It takes a certain audacity to make music as self-consciously stylish and sophisticated as that made by The Aluminum Group, but brothers Frank and John Navin have skills to pull off the challenging retro-futuristic trick. This sequel to 2002’s “Happyness” is apparently the second part of the group’s “happiness” trilogy, though it isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when listening to either disc. “Snowflake” and “W/O the Erte” are catchy but cold and clinical, and even when the group capably replicates breezy ’60s pop with “Colored Town,” the results are oddly creepy, like the product of robots programmed to do everything perfectly, except express emotions. Maybe that’s the ironic point: an album about happiness designed for those unable to feel.
Take away: Digital pop
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Victoria Rodriguez ([email protected])