It should be a case of partygoers unite with the new album from Berlin-based Thieves Like Us, because they bring this dose of slightly lethargic, dream-gazing electro to the table via the reliable pop conveyor belt of Shelflife Records.

Their meshing of a morbid ambience with monotonous warbling, however, deflates any potential this album may have had. ‘Drugs In My Body’ represents the only light in the impenetrable smog of lounge-house rumblings and ghoulish horns.

The band’s futuristic mumblings and their affinity for using large doses of techno-wizardry are well established here, but the general effect is of a muddy deluge of bizarre beats that are further dampened by Andy Grier’s heavy vocals and some obtuse lyrics.

Theives Like Us’s sound could well have been conceived in homage to New Order, but in reality, it just doesn’t measure up.

2 out of 5

Ash Meikle