Hung up on Breathing

Moodroom's debut full-length follows on the heels of two well-regarded EPs and five years of transatlantic gigging, and it finds them fully in control of a rather unique sound that blends elements of rock (both mainstream and alternative), pop, trip-hop, and club music. The beats are muscular, the guitars are crunchy, but there's always a funky edge to the band's sound, and there's frequently a burble of sampling lurking around in the background. On "E-song" Moodroom's cheesy new wave synths and Stef Magro's breathy hiccup evoke Berlin (at least until the drum'n'bass bridge), while "Gone" spends most of its time in downtempo techno territory. "Safe in the Sound" is straight-up trip-hop. But all of these various influences end up coming together into a surprisingly unified and mature sound. This is a band worth keeping an eye on in the future.