Acquaintance
Satellite Stream
It’s a disappointment that the extended instrumentals of the EP aren’t followed up on Satellite Stream, as some pure electronic downtime between these nine sung songs would make for a broader listen. If you’re not turned on by Griffin’s neutral vocals, performed in the grain-less manner of 80s touchstones Green Gartside, Paddy McAloon and (we keep forgetting) Simon Climie, then it’s easier to switch off than tune into the sublime programming beneath ‘Lifelike’, ‘Before The Wave’ and ‘Sleep Over Sleep’.
Satellite Stream is, of course, a record created well away from the major commercial, or even dancefloor, considerations that shaped the sound of its hit-making inspirations. As with the production pastiches of Daniel Lopatin and James Ferraro, its homage to electronic pop and soul is a prism through which to filter twenty-first century concerns. In Acquaintance’s case, this includes the disconnection between the individual consciousness (the titles form a thread: ‘Lifelike’, ‘Living Memory’, ‘Telepathic’, ‘Two Minds’) and those around it when immersed in the electronic world, couched in the deceptive language of love and longing.
Although dryness is a danger Acquaintance don’t always avoid, Satellite Stream rescues its pop credentials at the close with the uplifting melodies, simple synths and lovelorn chorus of ‘Open Secret’, pulled straight from the trophy cabinet marked Cupid And Psyche 85. It’s a breezy close to an imperfect but frequently fascinating debut.