Erasure - The Neon (2020) {Limited Edition} CD-Rip

In 2017, dance-pop mavens Erasure offered up the politically mindful World Be Gone, a set of reflective, mostly midtempo pop anthems that landed them in the Top Ten in the U.K. for the first time since the '90s. After rearranging it for a chamber ensemble (World Beyond) and issuing a related live album (World Be Live), they bring their music back to prime time at the club with The Neon. Focusing on the here and now and topics like infatuation, self-preservation, and, yes, dancing, it opens with the pulsing "Hey Now (Think I've Got a Feeling)," a song that announces its arrival at the discotheque with the lines "I hear a beat bop through my brain/I feel the pill pop through my heart." The track's steady four on the floor, murky synth bass, and laser-like synths get the party started alongside urgent vocals by Andy Bell that rally for a night out on the town. Most of the rest of the set list is like-minded, with insistent beats and memorable vocal hooks, with some of the most dynamic melodies coming with the effervescent "Diamond Lies" and "Fallen Angel" (the latter is concerned with chasing physical and emotional highs. The Neon's few ballads are loaded into the second half and non-sequential, including closer "Kid You're Not Alone," a bass-heavy entry that turns down the lights but keeps bodies on the dancefloor in the tradition of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" or Erasure's own "Always." Taken together, The Neon is stacked with what Erasure does best: Sharp melodic hooks, efficient, hip-shaking beats, and yearning lyrics that both relate and motivate.