Portland three-piece Blouse have made an alluring debut full of low-down bass, eerie synth work and hushed vocals – perfectly wrapped in electronic dance attitude. It’s not hard to see why Captured Tracks picked up the group after hearing a couple of tunes on Bandcamp – this is right up their industrial-edged, electronic side-street.

The voice is that of Charlie Hilton, and her well-spoken and heavenly tones take the record on a ethereal journey, managing to soften even the coldest, and more stripped 80s dance, that the duo occasional drop by. On tracks like healwaysflysaway she comes across like a modern day Nico, undeterred by the rhythmic and funk-edged bass-line and ominous analogues.

The drum patterns here set the tone of each track. On the excellent Timetravel they take off on a more upbeat pace – almost fashioning a motorik-like vibe. On Controller the keyboards waver like Joy Division’s Closer, but here they are led by Wilson’s tones, rather than the tortured soul of Ian Curtis.

It may be that Hilton’s voice is too chilled to ever create any real intensity, but it successfully aids the record’s engaging ambience. The other members, Patrick Adams and Jacob Portrait, certainly has a knack for varying rhythms and effective keyboard work to back up each track. And with the use of live guitars songs like Ghostdreams take on an old-school Cure vibe.

Tune-wise they could do with a few more big hitters to lift them a little higher beyond the mass of trendy duos currently thieving from days gone by. Or maybe a few more dramatic arrangement choices just to jolt the listener on the odd occasion. But that doesn’t take away that we are still left with a mightily impressive debut that slowly, but surely, creates its own space and time.

-Dave Taylor-