The Big Pink / Future This

The Big Pink
Future This
(4AD)
* * *

In last week’s episode, The Big Pink taught us all that ecstasy pop doesn’t necessarily have to have a reverse sub-bass middle eight, a low-frequency stereo divider, and a synth-splitting woof magnet. To put that another way, they showed that euphoria can be simple – with ‘Dominoes’ – and now the dastardly duo are back with a fresh batch of warehouse lovemaking anthems (‘Stay Gold’), sneaky slow-motion hip hop (‘Give It Up’) and jogging anthems for techno-goths (‘Jump Music’).

Whether you’ll like ‘Future This’ will, perhaps obviously, depend on whether you already like The Big Pink: this album’s not just fairly huge sounding, it’s also fairly familiar sounding to those who heard the first album. It’ll undoubtedly engage minds in the spitting rain at a festival next year, but there’s no super-transcendent moment which makes you point at the album, gibbering about its genius.

The Scooby snacks are still working mind, and on ‘Lose Your Mind’, The Big Pink even manage to echo the theme tune to (‘80s ITV quiz show) Blockbusters while maintaining dignity at all times. It’s a strange bonus to a competent sequel.