CD: Jape - Ocean of Frequency

A slightly late arrival, this, but the fourth album from Richie Egan’s highly rated Irish electro-rockers has a calm, clear beauty well worth savouring in the early days of a new year. It's pop, but with a lemony twist, similar in its slightly skewed craftmanship to Egan's compatriots Villagers, although Jape - despite winning the Irish Choice Music Award in 2008 for third album Ritual - remain a much less celebrated proposition in the UK.

It's hard to quite explain why, because Ocean Of Frequency is as lovely as it is accomplished. Aptly for an album fascinated by the connections between scientific certainties and the mysteries of the soul, it mixes hard electronics, sticky melody and dreamy acoustic interludes, often in a manner (“Borrowed Time With Peace”, “Its Shadows Won’t Make Noise”) which recalls the introspective intensity of Steve Mason’s Boys Outside. Elsewhere, “You Make the Love” is thrilling uber-pop, while “Scorpio” sounds like America's “A Horse With No Name” trotting off to the Balearics. The epic, chilly, early 80s melancholia of “The Oldest Mind” really nails the prevailing mood of modern electro-mysticism and languid, liquid beauty.

Watch the video for "The Oldest Mind" by Jape