Blonde Redhead - 'Penny Sparkle' (4AD) Released: 13/09/10

When a band like the XX take home the Mercury Prize it tells a lot about the state of the world. A t the  moment, people are not up for partying all-night with Klaxons and they don’t want to hear what northern boys do from Arctic Monkeys -they want something to chill out to, to stop fretting about the recession, the crumbling state of politics and Wayne Rooney’s alleged dalliances.  So it’s a good job New Yorker’s Blonde Redhead are back.

It has been seventeen-years since Italian twins Amedeo and Simone Pace joined with Japanese Kazu Makino to form Blonde Redhead. After two years they recorded their self-titled debut LP and this week sees the release of their ninth record, 'Penny Sparkle'. The album has a similar effect to what the XX offer as it takes the listener to a much calmer world as it is just as fragile as it is stable.

A steady, yet forceful drum-beat opens 'Penny Sparkle' before Kazu’s soothing vocals arrive. The four and a half minutes of 'Here Sometimes' is like an introduction to a book, little happens but it gives an insight into later chapters. 'Not Getting There' wakes the listener up from the dreamy opener as the beats drop harder. It is the third track where the band take to another world as vocals turn to 'Amedeo' and more dimensions are explored.

The album can be taken two ways: either bare or complex depending on how deep the listener wants to go. Vocals are hard to capture at times which makes the lyrics easy to ignore whilst the musicianship can come across as straight-forward but dig a little deeper and there are a lot of layers to it. The changes in vocalists give the record a much more even and idyllic feel.

'Love Or Prison' is one of the stand-outs on 'Penny Sparkle' where you can feel tension, it is close to exploding but it is restrained. The pace of the track doesn’t change, it’s the delicate and angelic vocals from the Japanese singer that keep the listener on edge. 'Everything Is Wrong' has an uplifting feel as the pace picks up slightly and the lyrics are clearer. Before the record draws to close both vocalists sing together on 'Black Guitar' where their voices compliment each other as well as their connectivity between the band members is intense.

Parts of the album were recorded in Stockholm – and that come across on 'Oslo', where the cold nights and loneliness add to the eerie sound. The band’s multi-cultural backgrounds are a big part the uniqueness of the Blonde Redhead sound. There is a time and a place for this record but it is a time and place everybody should stipulate for.