Hercules & Love Affair: Blue Songs

Label: Moshi Moshi

The debut from Hercules & Love Affair drew immediate attention within the dance community for being good, and outside the dance community for having Antony "and the Johnsons" Hegarty on vocals, a pairing that worked brilliantly. Blue Songs, the follow-up, has no Antony, replacing him with four different singers from both inside the group and out. You might expect a drop-off, right? Au contraire, mes freres (et soeurs): Blue Songs is absolutely killer, a sublime mix of house music gone pop, and if the vocals lack the distinctness an Antony might bring, they are all on the money (and in the pocket). "My House" glides along a classic beat, a spray of crisp hi-hat over a muscular but not overbearing 4/4. "Boy Blue" is evidence of what a real band Hercules and Love Affair is, building on a simple, graceful guitar strum and a quietly pulsating synth; it's what you'd call "organic" when talking to people who think all dance music is just machines in motion. Both "Boy Blue" (male vocal) and "It's Alright" (female) work as late-late-late-night come-down slow jams, while almost everything else works to prepare a dance floor for such gentle landings.