To his list of talents, George Lewis Jr. (Twin Shadow) could add ‘time lord’ and ‘cryogenicist’. On his second record, Lewis zips back in time to snap-freeze the sound of ‘80s power ballads from Howard Jones, Simple Minds, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and The Police. Then he thaws it out and serves it up again, piping hot and pressing his advantage with enough youth, confidence and devastating good looks to net Molly Ringwald.
The issue is that Lewis did this on his 2010 debut Forget too, but with less mimicry and more nuance, which placed his gleaming, guitar-flecked, lovestruck synth-pop just past the discomfortingly derivative zone. Not so with Confess. But who cares? Breakfast Club never went out of fashion anyway.
[rating:3]
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