music365 Trash Jan 2 2001

80s synth king Jacques Lu Cont unveils his new Hall & Oates direction

Zoot Woman are the latest and easily the finest architects of plastic pop nostalgia. Featuring Stuart Price on bass - the man normally branded as Jacques Lu Cont in Les Rythmes Digitales - along with brothers Adam (keyboards) and Johnny (vocals, guitar) Blake, Zoot twist 80s analogue pop with the slick designs of American MOR, specifically the crisp and chunky soul-rock of mulletÎnâtash supremos Hall & Oates. By rights they should be scorned as fatuous folly. Instead the trioâs ultra smart conceptualizing has given way to astonishingly brilliant pop.

Appropriately making their inauguration at youthful 80s retro night Trash, this is a brisk and efficient five-song introduction. Cramped onto a ludicrously tiny stage, Zoot Woman look resplendent in matching cream suits and black shirts. Itâs a look that screams of Tin Machine, of Robert Palmer and, less obviously, the howling terror of romo. But while Stuart Price may be grinning away and making wine bar muso moves, this is too committed and too detailed to be classed as giggling irony.

ÎLiving In A Magazineâ for instance may incur deliberate nods to Duran Duran circa ÎRioâ, but it still pulsates and clicks with a sophisticated pop awareness that would leave the original 80s mob for dead. On ÎAutomaticâ meanwhile, every note and perky synth signature are locked together with precision and flair.

Perhaps understandably, tonightâs debut shot isnât entirely flawless. Singer Johnny is awkward, nervous and sometimes fails to hit those soaring high notes. But when they outrageously mix The Policeâs ÎSpirits In The Material Worldâ with Kraftwerkâs ÎThe Modelâ and get away with it, their white-gloved Midas touch is never far away. Prepare yourself for the yearâs first great supernova. 8/10

Neil Davenport

Eyewitness Report: Unsurprisingly, members of proto-romo band Orlando are spotted while Stuart Priceâs bass is identical to Level 42âs polyrhythmic slapper Mark King.