Dave Simpson 

Scissor Sisters: Magic Hour – review

They've lost a bit of their unique personality, but Scissor Sisters' latest contains a good amount of floor-filling pleasures, writes Dave Simpson
  
  


Eight years after Scissor Sisters turned Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb into an unlikely disco smash, guest producers Pharrell Williams and Calvin Harris, and an Azealia Banks rap on Shady Love, give their fourth album an electro-pop sheen aimed at today's top 40. The euphoric dance single Only the Horses is already a hit, although such Identikit chart grooves have come at the expense of the Sisters' individuality. Less of themselves is lost on the quirky pop fluff of Keep Your Shoes On and Ana Matronic's Latin percussion-banging Let's Have a Kiki, but the New Yorkers sound most comfortable on piano-pumping pop songs. The Bee Geesy Inevitable and the deceptively bouncy San Luis Obispo chart hedonism and its lonely flipside, with tales of "fancy restaurant, cocaine nights" and post-disco loneliness. Year of Living Dangerously combines Jake Shears' musings on promiscuity and monogamy with sharp songwriting. A remodel was probably overdue, but the best moment here is another signature stomper: Baby Come Home, a late-night insecurity confessional boasting their catchiest tune since I Don't Feel Like Dancing.

 

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