The latest HTRK album finds them exploring a very different sound – which is the product of a time of real sadness, for original band member Sean Stewart died half way through the recording of their last album. In truth ‘9-5 Club’ is not the sort of record you’d put on before going out – unless the place your going is a dark, minimal venue with particularly strong drinks – but it rather reveals its treasures through Jonnine Standish and her intriguing lyrics. ‘Blue Sunshine’ may offer comfort in its ‘healthy dose of inner peace’, but the deadpan ‘Wet Dream’ proclaims rather coldly that ‘I’m in love with myself’. Even more chillingly, ‘The Body You Deserve’ appears to look at corrective surgery and its supposed benefits – but through it all you suspect Standish thinks nothing of the sort. It is her vocal that gives the slowly moving production its real frisson, for while there are some smouldering electronics not all of the songs truly catch fire. Yet once you spend some proper time with this album in a quiet environment, it reveals more depth than you might expect.
3 out of 5
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood
