CD Review of The Invisible Line by Temposhark
Recommended if you like
Pet Shop Boys, the Klaxons,
Imogene Heap
Label
Paper and Glue
Temposhark:
The Invisible Line

Reviewed by James B. Eldred

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T
he name Temposhark conjures images of a great white with a metronome duct-taped to its dorsal fin. That combination of majestic power strangled by idiocy pretty much sums up Temposhark’s debut album, The Invisible Line: it’s a wonderfully-produced piece of electronic-pop music frequently marred by the brain-dead songwriting and singing of frontman Roger Diament.

The album’s horribly unfortunate dichotomy is perfectly illustrated with the opening track, “Don’t Mess With Me.” Violins and synthesizers slowly build to a climax befitting a great, overblown John Williams score. Unfortunately, that powerful and moving music serves as the background to Diament’s grating voice, which is spewing out unintentionally hilarious lyrics told from the viewpoint of a seemingly all-powerful douchebag; “In my crowd I am king / I love their endless worshipping.” Perhaps Diament is playing a character here, but he doesn’t have the vocal power or presence to pull off lines like “How about a quick fuck? I’ve come, it’s been fun but won’t you please disappear / Something tells me you won’t further my career.” It’s much more likely that Diament’s been on the receiving end of that line than given it.

Diament’s lyrics and vocals are more appealing when he and the rest of the group, not surprisingly, up the tempo. The dance-friendly “Joy” is the band’s best track, and should find its way onto mixtapes between the Klaxons and M.I.A., as should the explosive “Crime,” which finds Diament adopting Pet Shop Boys’ talk-singing style to great effect. Tracks like that one should have ‘80s synth-pop fans elated, as should “Knock Me Out,” an explosive, almost rock-like jam that echoes Rio-era Duran Duran (and yes, that is a good thing).

Things are close to being great before they all come crashing down again. Electro-goddess Imogene Heap shows up for the break-up ode “Not That Big,” but is mainly relegated to backup vocals, which kind of ruins the point of having her show up in the first place. The return of Diament’s messy lyrics (“I’m gonna pick myself up and pull myself together / Never ever in recovery mode”) don’t help things, either.

The last half of the album is also hampered by distractingly bad lyrics that cannot be saved by music that has by then run out of steam. The bizarre “Battleship,” which compares Diament’s failing love to a sinking naval vessel, is a vocal mess almost-but-not-quite saved by some nice breakbeats. Another near-miss is “Little White Lies.” Told from the perspective of a famous lead singer cheating on his wife and girlfriend, it has the emotional weight and complexity of an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” The song is basically four minutes of him telling whichever lover is present “Naw, babe I totally dig you.”

Diament’s songwriting skills are already on notice by the time “Invisible Ink” comes around, at which point they are put on…whatever comes after being put on notice. The sappy refrain of “Don’t leave the world without changing something” is repeated ad nauseam. There are after-school specials and anti-drug ads with more subtlety than this stinking dud.

It’s obvious what Temposhark is trying to do on The Invisible Line – specifically, they want to bring back pop-friendly electronic music – but they can’t quite do it. Apparently the group has amassed a substantial MySpace following and scored a few minor hits in the U.K. Since both of those markets are completely singles-based, that’s not surprising. While Temposhark really does deliver on a few excellent stand-out tracks, they need to polish up a bit more before they are ready to deliver an album that is more than just a few obvious singles surrounded with meaningless filler. 

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