Altar Eagle

In 2010 Brad Rose (Digitalis / Charlatan / The North Sea / Ossining) and his wife Eden Hemming Rose (Foxy Digitalis / Mass Ornament) indulged their pop instincts to beautiful effect on Mechanical Gardens. For anyone familiar with the duo's work it was a radical departure from their experimental devotions and duly picked up a healthy amount of accolades. Nightrunners is their neon-hazy follow-up, perhaps slightly more industrial pop oriented, with strong traces of the early 4AD records they grew up with. Eden Hemming's voice takes a leading role, contrasting her dreamy sweetness with Brad Rose's raspy, steppin' drum machine patterns and layers of synth, guitar and electronics. The robust delicacy Carousel Ocean is the perfect example, at once whimsical yet calculated and even noisy, while the rest of the LP passes through an alternating weather system from the dark clouds and driving pace of Runaways to the gauzy shimmer of Piglette and the churning turmoil of Get Over It to fractured, Morr style techno-pop on No Spring Till Summer or the jagged noise pop of Hologram.