Disco isn’t dead, and Yip Deceiver want everyone to know. The band, comprised of ex-Of Montreal members Davey Pierce and Nicolas 'Dobby' Dobbratz, not only have a mission to brink sleek electro-funk back to the masses, they’ve even made up their own word to sum up their intent - Medallius. In the words of Dobby: ‘Medallius is an attitude and a lifestyle. Medallius is always keeping an elegant attitude regardless of how trashy a situation is.’ But can the duo live up to that statement?
As unlikely as it might seem, ‘Presets’ manages to find a meeting point between elegance and trashiness, pairing shimmering synth lines and robo-funk bass with a straight-up statement of lewd intent - “We ain’t here for love, oh no no no/we only came to see just what we missed.” Indeed, most of the album sticks to the theme of getting it on with your partner of choice. ‘Get Strict’ jams blasé come-ons such as “you never really had to try/to turn me on/your words are just formalities” into a song that’s already tightly packed with house piano, squelchy bass and extravagant synth riffs, while the space-synth-pop of ‘Lover’ lays it out in even simpler terms: “You could be my lover/if you want me tonight.” Oh, but they don’t stop there, no no. ‘World Class Pleasure’ drips with sleaze, even as it views getting your kicks from a one night stand from a slightly different angle: “To be here feels so right/because I know I’m not special.” ‘Go On’, meanwhile, is uptempo and cocksure enough to include both the brazen use of a saxophone and the chorus lyric “You can go on but you’re coming back home with me.”
‘Color Me In’ comes as a welcome break from all the lustful talk, with 8-bit synths melding with classic analogue sounds over a loping beat. ‘Obnoxia’, meanwhile, wins the prize for the chirpiest song on the record, with its bright synthesiser sounds and bouncy tempo - an unexpected fit for a song about getting anxious and irritated: “Oh, I’m swimming through the days/I tried my best to lose but they’re back to bother me.” From there, however, the party starts to sag a little bit - not even a callback to ‘Get Strict’ can save ‘2nd Son Of A 2nd Son’ from being a little too plodding, while ‘Theme’s glitchy two-step rave feels like it should have been given at least twice as long to stretch its legs. ‘Tops Part II’ smushes together the sleaze of ‘World Class Pleasure’ and the confidence of ‘Go On’ together without ever being as good as either of the aforementioned songs, but just when you think the record is going to peter out entirely, the drunken, arms-aloft, end of the night anthem ‘Double Future’ shows up to make sure the album goes out on a sprawling, giddy high.
It might feel a little one-note at times, and it’s definitely got a one-track mind, but Medallius ultimately does what it sets out to do - it turns up, brings the party, takes you home and is mysteriously gone by morning. It’s good fun for a one-night fling, and you might even get a summer romance out of it - just don’t pin your heart on it being ‘the one’.
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6Paul Faller's Score