Nic Billington pulls no punches within the heady – dare I say hedonistic – parameters of his brand new album Dark Horse. Part late night club playlist, part declaration of self-discovery, the album pulls weighty beats, cutting lyricism, intermittent restraint – and you – along for the ride.
Shadowy melancholia meets visceral candour and combusts. Opener “Dopamine” sets the scene with a dark, fibrillating bassline simply bred for that late night dance floor. Dramatic restraint gives way to a propulsive beat which catapults it into the realms of EDM-flecked pop.
Liquid electronics rub shoulders with a pillowy beat which frames “Without a Warning” as the unsettling truth-dropper that it is, while the title track “Dark Horse” is replete in electronic guitar licks, keeping things interesting with some rock inflection.
But for the most part Billington channels heavy-weighted electro-pop which straddles the millennium hurdle. With synth which smacks of the late ’80s and early ’90s, and decidedly contemporary moments keep it relevant. We’ve got a bulbous cover of Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”, we’ve also got hints of Micheal Jackson in the breathy breaks of “Feel Again”.
Billington sings to a decade of trial and tribulations, loves lost and found and indulged in, with the sort of hypotonic energy that, while it may err on the basis of repetition at times, carries through with profound appeal.
Feature pic supplied by artist.
