BIRMINGHAM ELECTRIC
COMMUNICATION
BELIEVE
★★★
Inspired by an epiphany at an OMD gig, and co-produced by their old drummer Mal Holmes, Communication is the decades-inthe-making debut LP from engineer Andrew Evans. Interspersing samples of sirens and obsolete messages with themes of societal oppression (Wall Of Fire) and tech paranoia (Miss 4Chan), Birmingham Electric largely echo the electro-pop pioneers at their most fatalistic. But Moving Target – less Architecture & Morality, more theme to The NeverEnding Story – and the uplifting Television Hill add some light to the early-80s shade.