polaroids of androids

With Sam Littlemore behind the boards - who has most recently worked with the likes of Gwen Stefani and Nelly Furtado - it's no wonder that Pnau's third offering sounds distinctly like a pop record. It's a shiny and often overly precise orgy of sound. The detailed and well thought out arrangements on the majority of the songs make it one of the best electronic albums to come out of this country in some time.

The opening track and one of the clear highlights - With You Forever - features the vocals talents of The Sleepy Jackson's Luke Steele and nicely blurs the gap between top 40 and straight techno. The make-up space cadet also pops up on the track Freedom and his distinct, airy voice floats perfectly over the electronic thumps. Other tracks such as Baby, Come Together and Shock To The System are strengthened by large parts of the vocals handled by a group of chanting children.

It's the fact that every song on this record is unique and it's own entity that makes it travel so nicely. There is a large chunk in the middle of the album which does seem like a normal slightly monotonous dj set. That said, overall this is an enjoyable electronic based record with a clear focus on created pop-like catchy songs. It should go down quite well at your summertime bbq's as well.