A dance band in the vein of the more recent Daft Punk, Leisure Cruise are less a dance band and more a pop band that skews heavily towards wanting you to move. It’s a distinctly Canadian attempt at a Johnny Jewel styled dark dance record. The album works as a toned down attempt at this sort of sound, as in “Double Digit Love” and “The Getaway,” which play in the same sonic playground as the Italians Do it Better label. Ultimately, they come across more uplifting, as though we should be raising our arms in the air and dancing happily to the chorus – seemingly at odds with the attempted tone of the songs.
Despite the mixed success of those songs, it’s when Leisure Cruise embrace that very uplifting quality and make it their own that they find the most success. “Sailing” is a perfect example of a shiny, danceable track that dance-tinged alt-rock song rather than an alt-rock tinged dance song. Perhaps it’s a semantic argument, but letting the dance music influence them rather than attempting the other way around seems to be the band’s strength.
This self-titled release shows a band still finding its footing. “Human Relocation Program (H.R.P.)” is about as good as one can expect based on its title and is reminiscent of Daft Punk’s technophobic Human After All. There are elements of Leisure Cruise that feel exciting and as a summer album work remarkably well, particularly in mining the sounds shown in “Sailing.” (Last Gang Records, lastgangentertainment.com) Devin King