Electric President
Label: Morr Music
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Electric President
Bedroom electronic pop has its constraints, and when the Florida duo known as Electric President are able to bury said limitations, they are at their best. Their debut album finds the two wading toward their mid-20s steeped in somewhat glum dispositions that are outlined by acoustic guitar and laptop assistance. For “Insomnia,” songwriter Ben Cooper matches stirring falsetto backups with dense, pulsing beats and plinks provided by co-conspirator Alex Kane. When Cooper’s meek vocal reaching doesn’t echo Neil Young, as it does on the stompy acoustic march of “Hum,” he grazes Death Cab country, and the downtrodden cutesiness is a bit much. But when the two entirely disregard the constriction of the tool shed where they recorded – as on the full-band blast that closes out “We Were Never Built to Last” – their influences are as understated as the disc’s homespun intimacy is boundless.
This article appears in Jan 18-24, 2006.