Darkstar Foam Island

Bottling a moment or space in time takes more than just skimming through Twitter's trending topics.You only need to listen to Damon Albarn singing about "everyday robots on their phones" or Jay-Z's Magna Carta references to Instagram and Miley Cyrus, to get a flavor for how topical references don't necessarily equal the zeitgeist; more often than not, they just sound clumsy. With third LP, Foam Island, however, British electronic duo Darkstar manage to conquer this challenge.

Perhaps best described as an electronic-pop-documentary of sorts, the album is part glitchy synthetic landscapes and part tight vocal melody, all wound together with audio samples of interviews conducted with early-twenty-somethings living in Huddersfield. The band's founding duo, Aiden Whalley and James Young, are both from the area and were inspired to incorporate their home into their music after a visit back there alerted them to distinct shifts in the town's atmosphere. In then talking to young people in the area, and capturing their wants, ambitions, hopes and fears, the resultant record is a nuanced reflection of existing in the North of England in 2015, and looking at an uncertain future with optimism.

1. Basic Things
2. Inherent in the Fibre
3. Stoke the Fire
4. Cuts
5. Go Natural
6. A Different Kind of Struggle
7. Pin Secure
8. Through the Motions
9. Tilly’s Theme
10. Foam Island
11. Javan’s Call
12. Days Burn Blue