Voyager

Album Review

Chicago dance-pop duo Walter Meego have a bright and shiny sound that places them firmly on the "daft" end of the daft punk spectrum. Their debut album, Voyager, is 40 minutes of fat synths, shimmering vocoders, jumpy beats, and glittering hooks that will have you in a post-disco narcotic haze of happiness by the end. There are elements of modern disco purveyors present, mostly Daft Punk but also Ratatat, but their main inspiration is a glorious mash-up of the dancefloor friendly side of synth pop and urban funk as practiced by the Time on their first album or Ready for the World. Tracks like "More Than I Can Say," with its chunky synth bass, or the rock hard "Letting Go" sound like they were concocted by an Electrifying Mojo-programmed computer and dropped into a perfect robo-funk play list. Even if you aren't a student of classic dance music forms, there is still plenty to love on Voyager, mainly for the incessant catchiness of the songs, and the wonderfully majestic instrumental hooks they seem to be able to crank out with complete ease. The duo (Justin Sconza and Colin Yarck) has a knack for melody and keeps the songs simple and easy on the brain. There are no lessons to be learned on Voyager, no message to digest. It's a shiny, pretty disco ball of emptiness perfect for washing away the cares of the day and tarting them up in feathers and lamé for a night on the town. Only a couple of songs dig below the smooth surfaces, like the bitter "Keyhole" or the weary "Lost," but even these more emotional tracks are kitted out in sonic surfaces so clean you could eat off of them. Voyager may be nothing more than a candy treat, but it's one you'll want to go back to again and again.