The Radio Dept., “We Got Game” (Labrador Records, 10/7/2016)
Sweden’s The Radio Dept. have made a habit, over the years, of moving between jangly dream-pop and more clubby, synthesized vibes. Where “This Repeated Sodomy”, a track released earlier this year, fell into the former category their latest, “We Got Game”, finds both feet firmly jacking in the latter.
“We Got Game”, with its lustrous synths and four-on-the-floor beat, is the sound of Kevin Saunderson (his Inner City project’s classic 1988 album, “Big Fun”, seems much in evidence from the opening bars) producing Technique or Fox Base Alpha. Vocalist Johan Duncanson’s quiet, world-weary voice belies the impatient tone of the lyrics – a rallying cry from the politically and socioeconomically disaffected, taking back from “the overfed” and dissatisfied with talk of a “middle ground” that is too often merely a code word for “maybe next year”.
“We Got Game” is released October 7, and will also feature on The Radio Dept.’s forthcoming long-player, “Running Out of Love”, due October 21 from Labrador (preorder here). Follow along with the band’s doings on fbook and the twitt, and catch them in early 2017 on a (rare) tour that will hit the EU/UK in January and the North America beginning in February.