In recent years, London duo Mount Kimbie have shrugged off their post-dubstep past and started to create songs that shepherd synth-heavy post-punk into the present day. On their third album, the band’s instrumentals radiate wit and warmth, like mid-80s New Order sloshing around in a sun-kissed sea – but it’s as a foil to some of Britain’s most idiosyncratic artists that Mount Kimbie really prove their mettle. Marilyn, their collaboration with Micachu, produces a masterly melange of outside-the-box melodies, James Blake’s hyper-emotional pipes meet creepily corrupted gospel on We Go Home Together, while the brilliant You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure)’s chit-chatty vocals (courtesy of Andrea Balency, the band’s touring singer) recall post-punkers such as Vivien Goldman and the Raincoats. The record’s other highlight, Blue Train Lines, sees the duo reprise their hugely fruitful alliance with King Krule, artfully tempering the latter’s cracked howl with neat motorik drums and restrained synths that hover politely on the fringes of white noise.
