VIOLENS

Amoral

[Friendly Fire/Static Recital]

Producer and multi-instrumentalist Jorge Elbrecht digs everything from black metal and hardcore punk to ’90s dance music, but he has the ’80s on the brain with Amoral, the debut album from his Brooklyn trio Violens. Elbrecht’s is a different sort of nostalgia. Rather than referencing indie-rock faves like New Order or Gary Numan, he aims for the high-gloss Top 40 pop of the decade’s latter half; if a new generation discovers When In Rome, Level 42 and Tears for Fears, Violens might be the reason why. Elbrecht breaks the mood with the occasional harsh beat or heavy blast of feedback, but for the most part this is a record filled with suave vocals, glistening guitars, echoing saxophones and synths galore. Elbrecht and bandmates venture briefly out of the ’80s with the credible ’60s-style psych-pop jam “Violent Sensation Descends,” but they can’t top “Acid Reign,” one of the best George Michael songs George Michael never wrote. –KP