As far as willfully obscure conceptual projects go, Neon Neon goes down smooth. The ‘band’, a collaboration between Super Furry singer Gruff Rhys, producer Boom Bip (also known as Bryan Hollon) and a handful of other guests, has an image and a sound even more cultivated than other similar groups like Gorillaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School. The shtick goes as follows: Stainless Style is an album ostensibly about John DeLorean, automotive pioneer, executive and poster boy for excessive cocaine consumption. And the music follows this theme closely, the songs are divided between slick 80’s pop-rock and mechanical hip-hop. While this approach makes for some really great singles, it fails to hold up for an entire record.

On a song-by-song basis, this is most certainly a strong pop album. The hooks are sharp and shiny, the melodies hummable and the singing smooth and soulful. What cripples the album is the theme. The references, which at first feel clever, slowly become grating, almost as if this was a soundtrack to some superficial VH1 special about DeLorean. The Glamorous Life, say. This sort of extended conceit opens Neon Neon to a whole world of criticism that they could have likely avoided had they been a little more limber when it came to the metaphors. The sheer number of car references becomes exhausting and instead of appreciating the skill shown here, one wishes instead that Gruff and Boom would’ve spent more time on the songs than they did thinking up their punny titles.

This all might sound unenthusiastic but there’s a lot to love here. The non-rap songs are, with the exception of Michael Douglas, formidably sleek and catchy as all hell. As a collection of singles, this would be a lot less disappointing. The harmonies on the title track, Steel Your Girl and Dream Cars are nearly angelic. I Told Her On Alderaan and I Lust You are suitably vamp-y. The album is far from a failure, but as a completed whole, it fails to live up to its strongest moments.

The hip-hop based songs here are going to inspire a good amount of hatred. They aren’t bad as such, they just aren’t as strong as the rest of the record. Not to draw too close a corollary, but on the Gorillaz records, the rap songs were the strongest, while here the opposite is true. Sweat Shop successfully mimics the sound of the assembly-line floor, but stalls out quickly. Trick For Treat and Luxury Pool are a little too literal-minded for their own good. Sadly, dullness isn’t worst charge I can level against these songs; the obvious truth is that they simply do not fit here.

As far as positives go, this is worth every penny for any Super Furry fan. And yes, it’s a whole lot more memorable than Candylion. In fact, the strongest songs here, Steel Your Girl, Raquel and I Lust You will probably be number among my favorites of this year. Maybe this disappointing feeling is more a matter of contrast, of the disparity between the brilliant and the merely mortal moments here. But for all of the times I’ve listened to this record, I cannot successfully rationalize away the amount of mediocre material on this album.

For such a long gestating project, this feels undercooked. Had they taken another year to write another few monster choruses, had they relegated the weaker songs to mixtapes and b-sides, this might be a completely different review. Gruff Rhys garners a whole lot of respect from most discerning pop listeners, and for good reason. I just hope that their adoration doesn’t blind them from recognizing the flaws. This is a decidedly mixed effort, and though I appreciate their effort, I cannot recommend without reservation. If this is more than a one-off, I hope they leave the high concept behind. As it stands, this is one of the bigger ‘WTF’ moments in modern musical history.

Stainless Style ends on a grace note, with Rhys singing in his sweetest croon “Oh how many are my foes? Many rise against me” and I cannot help but think how I number among them. It’s a beautifully self-aware moment, one that deflates much of the ballooning disappointment, but once again, these minutes where the brilliance and charm of Rhys and Hollon shine through only serve to further illuminate how fallible the rest of it really is.

Release date: 17/03/08
Artist website: Neon Neon MySpace
Label: Lex

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