Chromatics: Closer to Grey review – darkly glamorous pop outsmarts imitators

Chromatics are among the decade’s defining musical architects – or at least its refitters, given their darkly glamorous update on 80s pop’s jewel tones and gothic inclinations. While they didn’t hit the commercial peaks of the bands they influenced with their spots on the Drive OST and 2012’s Kill for Love, their elusiveness sustained the intrigue: follow-up Dear Tommy was due in 2014 but remains unreleased.

In its place is surprise album Closer to Grey. Chromatics’ influence means there’s a sense in which its haunted suburban chilliness sounds old hat. But the production is smarter than that sound’s schlockier Stranger Things reincarnation. You’re No Good bears the sleek aerodynamism of Behaviour-era Pet Shop Boys, and the surfaces are corrupted: blown-out bass (Twist the Knife) and overdriven guitar (Touch Red) indicate the dread at the album’s heart.

It’s laced with the sound of ticking clocks, lyrics about time running out and repeating cycles of violence. While you could call that contemporary, adroit throwbacks suggest that existential peril has defined the last 50 years – the album opens with a cover of The Sound of Silence, and Move a Mountain reflects the earnest political optimism of Tapestry-era Carole King. It’s here that Chromatics outsmart their imitators.