Bicep

It’s surprisingly dreamy and thoughtful at times (see lead single ‘Aura’, which radiates pure white light) and full of the yearning and bittersweetness of the best post-rave sunrise moments. Most of all, it’s laser-focused in the pursuit of pleasure, and makes absolute sense as a complete album.

Bicep have never been afraid to go for broke, and their debut album is all the better for it.

The intuitive, steady flow of writing in the studio means that the record can lack form. And yet, despite some generic meandering, none of the productions come across as derivative.

It feels like a body of work that’s been carefully planned and thought-out, which is ironic, given so much of it was just 'a happy experiment'.

Bicep have taken all of their influences and crafted them into a delightfully homogeneous whole. This is a loose, liberated record as the pair tease with layers of intricately woven synths, keyboards that demonstrate a suitably delicate and deft touch.

Bicep’s expansive production and compact song-lengths often lack the transportive and hypnotic potential that the best dance music offers. But it succeeds as a lean and consciously paced album.

The music as a whole isn't as immersive as you would expect it to feel at first. Instead it works on a more subconscious level, gradually drawing you in with a subtle pull. That seeming lack of immediacy does nothing to take away from how enjoyable many of the highlights here are, and the album is well-paced in such a way that it never lingers longer than it needs to.

Bicep's debut album essentially delivers what fans have come to expect; for newcomers, the duo revisits some of the more open-hearted elements of '90s dance music without succumbing to the period's cheesiest trappings.