To paraphrase a whole bumpf of press releases and blogposts, New York duo Tanlines promise perky electro pop with a tropical lilt: holiday music for the discerning hipster; Passion Pit with a potent dash of palm tree. However, the lardy synths (see ‘Abby’), papery guitars (see ‘Cactus’) and jadedcruise- singer vocals (see all) that whitewash their chronically unedifying debut, ‘Mixed Emotions’, suggest that Tanlines are better suited to that end-of-holiday ebb, when you’re waiting, sunburnt, for a delayed flight, with a tummy blizted with Berocca. Most of the tracks are about as blank and sterile as an airport terminal.

Matt Wright