- Joe McBride makes dance music with a soft and gooey centre. His Synkro tracks are so wrought with emotion that they can feel over the top, but sometimes he strikes a balance between steely and sentimental. Hand In Hand, a new EP following his underwhelming Changes album, touches on that middle ground. It was apparently influenced by '80s library music, but it keeps the tics that have always defined Synkro.
The best parts of the EP don't sound like library music as much as the old Autonomic sound. The widescreen synths and '80s basslines of the title track are majestic, and the 85-BPM kick drum that interrupts the misty synth background is especially attractive. "Automatic Response," whose title even seems like a reference to Autonomic, is another highlight, with expressive drums to match the melodies. These two tracks are enough to make anyone who was into Instra:mental and dBridge's work back in 2010 feel a pang of yearning.
The only tune that bears any resemblance to library music is "Vanishing Point," but with its slightly musty lead and prefab drums, it feels like it's trying too hard. The same goes for "Red Sky," which can't save itself from the high-pitched vocal sample that nudges it into cliché. As "Automatic Response" and "Hand In Hand" show, McBride emotional songwriting's connects best when he keeps a lid on the melodrama.
TracklistA1 Vanishing Point
A2 Hand In Hand
B1 Automatic Response
B2 Red Sky