- Padded Cell must be totally besotted with horror films. It's obvious in everything from their titles ("Savage Skulls," "Moon Menace Part II") to the '80s B-movie poster artwork. All of which might lead you to expect something generally terrifying in Night Must Fall, like the sounds of beheadings and blood-curdling screams and unearthly nocturnal beasts.
In fact, despite an obvious fascination with the eerie synth atmospheres of Goblin's soundtrack work, this is music that thrills subtly, rather than waking you up with a knife to your throat. Richard Sen (previously of Bronx Dogs) and Neil Beatnik (Dirty Beatniks) produce a dark, chugging disco that incorporates elements of post-punk bands such as Magazine and Liquid Liquid (whose percussionist Dennis Young plays on two tracks here). It's a rare modern example of rock-influenced electronica that has actual nuance.
Opener "Moon Menace Part II" sets the tone in an a creepy-scene-in-'70s-Dr-Who kind of way, before "Savage Skulls" unveils the album's blueprint: an agreeably plodding disco groove with snarling guitars and fizzing synths that build and burble.
What follows are basically a series of variations on this template. Padded Cell's sound seems deliberately limited to a few elements, a basic palette that defines the atmosphere of all their records. And to be sure, there are moments where this formula begins to seem over-stretched.
As a result, the highlights of Night Must Fall are the moments where they seem to be half-breaking out of the formula, hinting at something wilder, weirder. Former B-side "Faces of the Forest" (sadly losing a little of its original power in edited form) throws in a strange, squawking sax, giving it a deliciously sinister feel. The fidgety synths on "My Children Sleep Next to the Echo Chamber," seem always on the edge of frothing over the edge and erupting.
The gritty ESG-like groove of "Konkorde Lafayette" is counterbalanced with a melodic, almost trancey synth riff that lightens the whole record's mood. "Far Beneath London," with its snaky rhythms and ricocheting percussion, threatens to build to an acid-house-like peak; and closer "Are You Anyone?" grows slowly, infectiously, while its saxophone motifs and rhythms twist and turn like an Arthur Russell disco record.
Ill-advised vocal tracks are often the bane of electronic albums, and here "Word of Mouth," featuring Battant singer Chloé Battant, is no exception. While undoubtedly poppy, more than anything else it recalls The Rapture circa 2003—a sound that hasn't dated well. There are also several moments on this album where the duo are definitely treading water.
For all that Padded Cell's music constantly threatens to erupt into madness, it would be great to see it actually happen for once, to hear them dissolve into a wild jazz freakout or a squall of white noise. But then perhaps that would shatter the delicately eerie atmosphere they've worked so hard to create: a singular concoction that's half thriller soundtrack, half disco filler, and wholly unique.
Tracklist01. Moon Menace Part II
02. Savage Skulls
03. Faces Of The Forest (Edit)
04. Word Of Mouth (Feat. Chloé Battant)
05. My Children Sleep Next To The Echo Chamber
06. Night Must Fall
07. City Of Lies
08. Triple X Syndrome
09. Konkorde Lafayette (Edit)
10. Far Beneath London
11. Beautiful Gloom
12. Are You Anywhere? (Edit)