I’ll swim in this retrogression, thank you, instead of the backwards backwaters of throwback dance and mod synth. This is not a-lesser-of-two-evils scenario; mind you: I enjoy “Duh.” Though it fails to add much to the equation (besides a heavy load of gate on the snare), it pays tribute to the past, perfectly, and with sparkling clean production.
I must be showing my age, because all this alt-90s worship is music to my ears. But, suppose familiarity isn’t a factor - “Duh” is a stand-alone, a good song, a new infection for an old progression, worth repeating…well played…well played…in the wrong decade to be a hit, sure, but if it had been, it would have become an anthem, still in rotation on iHeartAltRock Radio.
Hands-on is rare these days, and (competent) bands, rarer. Therefore, it is a relief to hear a-band-that-plays-songs when most folks sit on stage looking like they’re surfing the web, playing out some sort of low-level game of computer chess, where the computer always wins. In Afterbloom’s 16mm world, I imagine there is plenty of movement as a mod synth smolders in the background of their music video shot in “The Lightning Field.”
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