Erasure

Just like the Pet Shop Boys, synth pop duo Erasure have stuck around a great deal longer than anybody ever expected, considering their heyday was about 20 years ago. Incredibly, Tomorrow's World is their 14th studio album and sees them moving back towards the snappy pop songs that made them almost permanent fixtures on the UK charts at one point. There aren't many surprises ― by getting wunderkind Frankmusik to produce, they've tried to bring their sound up-to-date, but all it does is highlight how things have come full circle. The downside is that there is way too much Auto-tune thrown into the mix, when Andy Bell's voice can stand up all by itself. While Tomorrow's World is almost a return to form, it also emphasizes how Erasure have always been at their best as a singles band. There are four really good pop songs here and the other five are pedestrian, merely passing time until the next gem arrives.