Lovelock - Burning Feeling (2011)

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Lovelock - Burning Feeling (2011)

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Some people will seek out the debut album by Lovelock, because the man behind it is Steve Moore of the band Zombi – a New York duo who play faintly absurd horror soundtrack music enjoyed mainly by metalheads. Yet they will discover, in ‘Burning Feeling’, one of the least horrific or metallic records ever. Lovelock is where Moore lives out his oiliest, most moustachioed cosmic-disco-meets-yacht-rock fantasies. Largely paced languidly enough for the cruise ship dancefloor’s erection section, synths fizz like fireworks and vocals, when they feature, are shameless requests for unnamed ladies to disrobe. Despite being a good 30 years out of time, it’s absolutely brilliant.

Review by Noel Gardner, NME.com

Burning Feeling doesn't really exist. This is a disco happening in a dream. If David Lynch directed Saturday Night Fever, this would be the soundtrack. It's a high glamor disco party in Hell with the guest list being mostly murderers, ghouls, and demons. Steve Moore of Zombi fame sprinkles the modern day synthpop thing with mountains of glitter from the late 70's and early 80's dance and ends up shooting the moon. His combining of memorable dance tracks with such a sinister edge is both entertaining and captivating. Everything sounds awash in gold, glimmering in a sunset on some ocean shoreline.

What really caught my eye immediately with Burning Feeling is how long and meandering it is without changing much and yet how incredibly good it stays. But perhaps that's the point; these songs could go on forever, there's no real rhyme or reason to the thing and by prodding along it somehow becomes more enveloping. "Don't Turn Away (From My Love)" is 9 minutes of marching bass and sonic fireworks that showcases Moore's love for very sparsely putting vocals in. Though soulful they may be, Moore allows the vocals to be a complete addition to the music, nothing to grab a hold of. You're constantly slipping further and deeper into Burning Feeling until it consumes you. The party's gone on way too long, you've done way too many drugs, and more are closing in. There's a sense of no escape, no comfort throughout the album and it's what makes Burning Feeling an exhilarating listen. You can try to hang on, but by the time the last brilliant synth note hits on "Deco District" you're left bewildered. I had the craziest dream last night.

Review by Sam Feldman's Rating, SputnikMusic.com

Electro auteur Steve Moore makes music under a variety of monikers, including his own name, Zombi, Gianni Rossi, and Lovelock. Within those projects, he's covered everything from synth rock to disco-pop to Tangerine Dream-style electronic soundscapes. On his first album as Lovelock, Moore embraces the sounds he grew up on in the ‘80s, which included everything from Thomas Dolby and Stacey Q to Jan Hammer's Miami Vice music. Not that he actually apes any artist's specific style on Burning Feeling, but the gestalt that he goes for is an undeniably ‘80s-influenced one, with a pronounced accent on synthesizers that provide glistening lead lines and fat-bottomed bass riffs with a steady, danceable beat pulsing through almost everything on the album.

Sure, there are moments where one vintage touchstone or another is evoked – the coda of "Don't Turn Away (From My Love)," for instance, brings visions of the Alan Parsons Project's "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" to mind (sure, the latter is a late-‘70s track, but it's well within the aforementioned aesthetic nevertheless). Moore's overall aim on Burning Feeling seems to be to craft the ultimate soundtrack to the greatest ‘80s teen romance never made, or perhaps to evoke what growing up in the era of Footloose and Flashdance was like for those who couldn't experience it firsthand. Of course, in spite of himself, he ends up with a (largely instrumental) record that's considerably more sophisticated, atmospheric, and arty than some of his professed inspirations, but really now, what would you rather hear, an impressionistic take on ‘80s electro-pop or an album full of Rockwell retreads?

Review by James Allen, Allmusic.com

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Lovelock - Burning Feeling (2011)

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Lovelock - Burning Feeling (2011)

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