Immaculate Machine

The Immaculate Machine's debut on Mint is a great presentation of the band's sound: energetic, uplifting, and smart pop. The band are aptly named — their songs are well-blended and wound tight, with boy/girl vocals, post-punk/power pop riffs and trilling drums — functioning in immaculate unison. They could be compared to fellow British Columbians the Organ for more than geographical reasons — both bands share an ’80s infatuation, along the lines of the Cure and Blondie (though the Immaculate Machine could be easier linked to the Cars than the latter). Like the Organ, the Immaculate Machine's sound is warm but with traces of cool air — the songs, however upbeat, change from buoyant to melancholy within a chord progression. The Immaculate Machine, however, write songs with jangle and liveliness that keeps them far removed from the Organ's sluggish approach to pop. Their music has elasticity, an innocent energy and a punky undercurrent that elevates them from the tedious pitfalls that contemporary pop bands often lose their hooks in. Pop staples that can occasionally become trite, such as harmonies, handclaps and bittersweet riffs are suspended in perfect synchronicity by the centrifugal force of the Immaculate Machine's positive energy and genre-sweeping inspirations, making their sound sweet without any aftertaste.