On Skying (XL), The Horrors sound like they accidentally fell into the ski lodge jacuzzi with John Cusack, Rob Corddry and the rest of the guys from the movie “Hot Tub Time Machine”. Their music is a time-warp window to the 1980s, leading synth effects and all,  and a mostly welcomed one at that. Skying is the England-based band’s third studio album.  

Lead singer Faris Badwan (formerly Rotter) fits the romantic mold to a T.  ”I Can See Through You” offers penetrating song subject matter and lyrics as does “Still Life,” which slowly but surely seeped into my short-term memory and hit the Replay button in my brain. ”Oceans Burning” is the best and final song on the CD and one of the only ones that distinguishes itself with a much-needed change of pace.  It has a Pink Floyd-esque, otherworldly soaring-over-the-clouds effect. “Monica Gems” pairs gothic fuzz-rock distortion to notable effect against the foreground of Badwan’s craggy yet crystal-clear vocals. Fortunately, neither overpowers the other.

All that being said, I found it next to impossible to not conjure the Psychedelic Furs and Simple Minds during my first listen. In fact, there’s not much else here in terms of melodical innovation or even experimentation. If in a worse mood, I might even say the other nine tracks sound like DJ remixes of the first song.  It’s good post-vintage new wave fun, but it’s a bit stuck in Xerox mode.

Although stylistically very different, Skyying and 311′s newest release Universal Pulse struggle with the same problem – good music that loses some of its appeal due to lack of variety within the work. It’s great that alt rock is experiencing a revival of 80s sound, but mixing it up a little could only help The Horrors gain even more traction. It makes me wonder if as-yet-unknown and solidly capable alt bands will be able to evade being ensnared in the different-song/same-sound trap…

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