Rotersand
Don’t Become The Thing You Hated
Trisol/Metropolis
Decades on from the mad dash for futurepop dancefloor supremacy during the aughts, few acts of their era have played things out as tastefully as Rotersand. Sure, the presence of studio whiz Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg has ensured that Günther Gerl and Rascal Nikov would never be found wanting in terms of technical production and rock-solid sound design, but the group’s savvy choices with regards to their day-one interest in classic synthpop and not simply aiming for immediate beats or hooks has paid just as many dividends. New record Don’t Become The Thing You Hated continues that steady run with slowburn synthpop sitting in equanimity with club-driven electro.
The shift from the fragile piano beginning of opener “All Tomorrows” into a blooming, classically ‘mature’ synthpop track serves as a guidepost for the rest of the record and, really, much of Rotersand’s recent catalogue. As the piano’s modulated by pads and glowing chimes atop motorik programming, one realises that Rotersand are an act sitting far closer to, say, latter-era Alphaville records than the milieu of club bangers “Exterminate Annihilate Destroy” and “Almost Violent” in which the band first distinguished itself. Coming on the heels of that tune, the club bounce of “Higher Ground” reads differently than it did as a standalone single some two-odd years back, with the interplay between Rascal’s vocals and the submerged synth programming feeling like the real substance of the song rather than its more immediate hook and beat.
And sure, you could reach back into the band’s own catalog for comparable moments – soft ballad “Heaven” isn’t so different from the quieter sounds which were peppered through the dancefloor storms of Random Is Resistance twenty years back – but the difference is one of proportion and focus. The stabbing piano lead of “Father Ocean” and the wormy minimalist stomp of “Watch Me” keep something in reserve even as they make solid club bids, allowing for the deeper and more sculpted design on them to shine through on headphone listening. That strategy of keeping their powder dry gives Rotersand even more firepower when they go all out with late-album highlight “Private Firmament”, its synth-toms and funky bass connoting latin body music of past decades.
The question of the LP format in connection to original futurepop is too big of a topic for this space, but for a band with one foot still clearly on the modern electro dancefloor, Rotersand have learned the lessons of the genre’s successes and indulgences in that format. By framing its bigger (or at least more overt) moments with the aforementioned “All Tomorrows”, or even the classic Camouflage homage of “Don’t Stop Believing” (no, not a cover), Don’t Become The Thing You Hated underlines its loudest moments well, while also ensuring that its softer ones aren’t given short shrift. Recommended.
The choice of “All Tomorrows” as the opening is wonderful because it’s a genuinely uplifting piece of melody that stayed with me throughout the record as a marker of the mood and intent (maybe?). I did not find the record to be as immediately memorable as “How Do You Feel Today”, as far as my bodily reaction (I feel like that one had some great dance hooks throughout), but this nicely charts Rotersand’s progress. Their input here and now, and in this form – evolving from the notion of exterminate, annihilate and destroy – is actually, quite wonderful.