Adventure - Lesser Known

Being a close associate of Baltimore’s very own electro superhero Dan Deacon, it would be predictable to assume that Adventure’s Benny Boeldt is a purveyor of sparkly, unpredictable electro symphonies. And you’d be warm for sure, but Boeldt seems far less interested in the sticky dancefloor, and far more taken by the neon haze of the 1980s and early 1990s. ‘Lesser Known’ is an album that to these ears seems pointed directly at the collective unconsciousness of kids just about my age, people who grew up buying bootleg videogames on floppy disk and who have a certain place in their heart carved out for the hallowed SID sound chip. For some reason I’m reminded of classic Commodore puzzler Lemmings and its memorably torturous soundtrack. For those of you unfamiliar, the composers re-wired ‘classic’ songs into endlessly repeating bleeping tone-clouds which over time began to haunt every aspect of your being. Boeldt’s songs are far more economically formed, but there is a sense of nostalgia with each song to the point where there are omnipresent riffs and sounds that you’re damned certain you remember for some reason or other. Hints of Alphaville , Yazz, Erasure and New Order drift in and out of the buzzing electronics and you might just forget you’re wearing grey, sitting in the flicker of an energy-saving lightbulb and eating ‘fancy’ artisan bread, after all. Think back, remember when we had hope for the future and teeshirts that actually changed colour (at least until your mum had stuck ‘em in the washer on high)? Benny Boeldt has been there.