Love Inks - Generation Club

It may be more than two years since Love Inks last featured on Popsiculture, back around the release date of E.S.P., but now they're back with Generation Club, and there's a whole ten more tracks to fall in love with.

For those of you who bought or remember E.S.P., Generation Club continues in the same style - an almost sensual combination of electronic sounds and purring vocals that perfectly show off lead singer Sherry LeBlanc's range.

If you're new to Love Inks, prepare yourself for something a little different from the norm. Think end-of-the-night slow-dancing on the greatest dancefloor of your life, but in the middle of the day and stone-cold sober, and... actually that sounds like a nightmare, but what I'm trying to say is, Love Inks feel like the crescendo of a great night out, but can be enjoyed at any time of day.

High Points

For me, the major high point of this album was simply getting a timely reminder of how much I enjoyed E.S.P., with the added bonus of having a whole new album to enjoy - I know I said that up top, but it's really true, and I think the best thing about enjoying the work of any artist is when the old and the new work well together.

But Generation Club is an album that stands alone in its own right, too, and there are several gems here. Among the best - particularly if, like me, you're a bit of a night owl - is Night Lunch, a lazy, sleepy lullaby that's Love Inks at their best. Clean and simple, with a clear message ("Life can wait when it's you and me..."), there's little that needs saying about this one - just preview it and see for yourself, I guess.

Buy Night Lunch on .

The average person takes seven minutes to fall asleep. If you like to listen to music as you drift off, the five and a half minutes of Night Lunch could prove to be all you need - and its successor, Magazine Street, is equally chilled and just long enough to get you past that crucial seven-minute mark.

The Verdict

Generation Club is a welcome addition to the Love Inks catalogue, and one that's likely to be played on a loop by anyone who enjoyed E.S.P. - and the characteristically laid-back delivery provides a friendly welcome to new fans, too.

While some might find parts of this album boring, that's a misguided point of view; it is self-evident that the tracks are deliberately restrained, even minimalist in parts, and Sherry LeBlanc's seductive vocals combine confidence with a casual air so often absent from autotuned, mass-market pop.



This is tactile music - OK, it's just sound (sometimes served in a bite-sized portion with a video accompaniment, as above), but somehow it feels like you can reach out and touch it, or that it will cradle your head until you fall asleep.

Generation Club is the grown-up equivalent of having your mum stroke your forehead when you were poorly as a child. It's a mug of hot milk (or mulled wine) on a cold winter night. More directly, it's a fine achievement, and something for Sherry LeBlanc, Love Inks and all of their long-term fans to be proud of.

Final Score: 95%