Parisian producer Golden Bug has clearly spent a lot of time getting the structure of his second album just right, because it unfolds with almost robotic precision. Funny that, because V.I.C.T.O.R is the name of a fictional android living in Barcelona. He’s ‘more intelligent than humans and just generally having a really good time’. That much is clear from Yan Wagner’s vocal on ‘Wild Boys’, which has dead pan tones that fans of Matthew Dear would definitely dig. The vocal guest slots are intelligently filled, with Anna Jean capping a brilliant, elastic bass on ‘The Face of Another’, while the instrumental tracks are darkly atmospheric, none more so than the closing ‘Dance Macabre’ with Moscoman. There is a dark soul to this robot – but he’s determined to live life to the full, and his character makes Golden Bug’s second album a mechanical triumph.
Ben Hogwood
5 out of 5