Justice - ‘†’ (Ed Banger/ Because) Released 18/06/07

Yes, it’s here. Can the hype now die down please? Ever since their bedroom reworking of Simian’s ‘Never Be Alone’ stumbled into the hands of Pedro Winter’s Ed Banger Records, Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge have been hailed as the new you-know-who. And why not? The Parisians may distance themselves from the comparison, but the truth is, Justice have more much in common with Daft Punk than simply their nationality and links to Busy P.

Par example? A series of electro-fying remixes of everyone from Franz Ferdinand and The Mystery Jets to Britney Spears and DP themselves, an EP of ear-splitting gothic disco and the continual resurrections of ‘that track’: all of these have got chemical butterflies fluttering in the stomachs of everyone left unfulfilled by the leaden ‘Human After All’. Just as Oasis filled a La’s and Stone Roses-shaped hole in 90s indie, so are Justice expected to fill one that matches the profile of Homem-Christo and Bangalter in 21st century disco. House heads, indie kids, MTV viewers and chin strokers are all waiting to hear how they cope. It’s hardly fair for a duo which only discovered how to use an Apple Mac a couple of years ago to shoulder such levels of expectation. But that’s their ‘†’ to bear.

Fortunately for Justice, and a million times more so for the rest of us, this album is every bit as good as people have been hoping. First glances reveal the biblical imagery of the album’s title is carried through song titles such as ‘Genesis’ and the previously released ‘Let There Be Light’ and ‘Waters of Nazareth’, although the theme remains as much a red herring as ever. What instead emerges as the message of ‘†’, whether intentional or not, is that great music doesn’t try to be clever, modern or anything else that it isn’t; it’s just happy to be great.

Calling your opening track ‘Genesis’ for example, couldn’t be any less cool if it starred a bald ex-drummer marching with its mates from left to right across your TV screen in time to its own plodding backbeat. It doesn’t do that, by the way, instead beginning with a lo-fi neo-classical grandeur (impossible as that may sound) before fizzling into the kind of funky acid squelch that is unmistakeably Justice. Latest single ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ – apparently a tribute to their idol Michael Jackson – seems to be made out of musical Lego, switching between Nintendo music, poppy R'n'B and eight-year-old vocals to create perhaps the most random anthem of the year. All this from De Rosnay and Auge – two novices twiddling the dials and seeing what happens. Discovery indeed.