Bleep

Jackson Fourgeaud’s album ‘Glow’ as Jackson and his Computerband was an extrovert and inventive addition to the oeuvre of an eccentric pop artist pushing ‘80s pop’s potential to its furthest limits. ‘G.I. Jane (Fill Me Up)’ delivers on pure pop pleasure, with a bombastic chorus focusing Jackson’s bubbling synths and robot vocals into their purest song form. But there are plenty of more wayward ramblings upon these tropes which make this much more than a run-of-the-mill pop album.

‘Seal’ constructs a bizarre marriage between grinding techno saw sounds and a crawling hip-hop slam, which bursts into Rustie-esque 8-bit scales and chopped-up chipmunk vocal spurts. ‘Pump’ draws a darker edge from the Computerband, sounding like a Parisian Cabaret Voltaire, complete with bonus trombone samples, and ‘Billy’ sculpts similarly menacing low-end throbs into a romping upbeat number. The undoubtable highlight however is the record’s central track ‘Blood Burst’, which deranges a modular synth pattern to bewildering effect, all the while shoving it amongst a pulverising homespun drum & bass beat which lifts the album’s dominating synth pop tempo suddenly and unexpectedly. A charming hiss and crackle veils the entire album, making ‘Glow’ an unusual mix of nostalgia and nonchalance. Ultimately it is Jackson’s ability to be wide-eyed and playful with the tropes of his beloved period of music making which make the album a pleasure, rather than a melancholic ode to times gone by.