There comes a point where anything that was once right at the cutting edge of future technology starts to look adorably retro. Where once audiences gasped at 50s alien invasion movies, now the monsters just look like blokes bumbling about in rubber suits. The gadgets of the future on Tomorrow’s World now look as twee as anything on Mad Men. It’s this recent-nostalgia that synth duo Andrew Hodson and Steve Jefferis – who collaborate from their homes in Newcastle and Manchester – have in their sights on their charming debut album.
Harking back to Neu!, Giorgio Moroder and Eno’s sweeter spots, Warm Digits provide the soundtrack to the future as it looked 30 years ago. What you get are swathes of warm, sci-fi synths pulsating through an instrumental universe, as showers of cowbell ride in and out groovily and, in Grapefruit, the band strap on their day-glo rollerskates and get downright disco on our ass. The duo, it’s fair to say, have got the funk and are not afraid to use it.
Here come the Warm Digits then, and if you feel a flush of cosy affection at the very mention of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, then they’re probably for you.
