Don’t Feed The Robot – Break the Cycle review

Don’t Feed The Robot, the indie pop band from London has just released their eleven track LP Break the Cycle.

Don't Feed The Robot

Don't Feed The Robot

Opening with the familiar Miles, which is an engaging introduction. The warmth of the material creates a layer of smoke in which to enjoy what is to follow as the band lay-out their electro riven sounds to the ears.

Either Way takes a stunning drum opening to a revelling roller-coaster ride, again familiar to fans of the band, this is a track which begins to explore the concept of sci-fi pop in which Don’t Feed The Robot excel, as the smoke clears to reveal the dance-floor demanding of attention.

Heading Underground, the album spins in to an acoustic guitar and the band take us on a journey, busking in the tube with delightful echoes resonating in the head, a highly visual resonance to track, as the band play with the audience, switching the 4 minutes between quietened moments and rising electric guitar.

Daphne’s Flight a delight, of light and might. Ouch, a rhyming couplet to start a track review… . Well that sets the scene for a far more introspective space in which to consider the quartet.

Barbed Wire Fence is an intriguing space in which to lie a while. A joy to find and the golden nugget in the release as the band go all Green Flag, yet retain the core essence of what is expected. Indie-pop shouts out of the speakers with a hand outstretched as key instruments are deployed to full effect.

A smart sounding Cycle finds the release pursuing power-pop themes as the vocal continues as it has done thus far to layer a floating hypnosis. How much better it sounds when handled by a female than a male american post puberty screech.

Interlude arrives on track 7, but somehow time has flown. This is more than a filler although it sits at only just under 2 minutes as opposed the the more usual 3 and a 1/2 to 4 minutes and following on from the longest track on the album, the 4 minutes 56 seconds of Cycle, it packs as much punch, as Don’t Feed The Robot sheer in to a soulful mood which is written as a showcase for vocal, a space which works like a shining crystal.

Heading in to outer-space Cheap Cologne is a scintillating drum opus in which the mind can envisage NASA space-suits gathering for a party. We had a golden nugget, now we find the adámas.

Graphite sensibilities, to continue the concept of bonded carbon atoms, as reverberating guitar meets muted synths gently flow one against t’other. You know that somehow satisfying warming feel of a smooth pencil flowing across the page? Well, here we sit with The Act.

Is rational Irrational I query as we head to the penultimate space on Break the Cycle. This hangs hooks of much that has come before, with some new ideas of sound that rip through the speakers with joy as from wide out we have the guitar playing one speaker to the other, while centred is the core that is Don’t Feed The Robot. But somehow this is new and if you want to know what is better than a diamond – well it may be Irrational – but this is the track that sells the album to me. More please.

Finishing with How (Do I Pretend) I feel the time has been well spent on an exploration of all that is Don’t Feed the Robot. Bass has lived up to what I need, guitar has been enticing, electro kit has been deployed with alacrity, drums have made me smile and vocal has entranced. Tracks have  wandered across surfaces and so Break the Cycle has lived up to the name on the tin. A Ronson me thinks.

Break the Cycle is available on Break the Cycle - Don't Feed the Robot*

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