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THE MECHANICAL FORCES OF LOVE
(WALL OF SOUND/ASTRALWERKS)
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Main Medicine man Brad Laner has spent the last decade splitting his time between fractured laptop electronica and lush, guitar-filled dream pop, both as the architect of this LA-based band and on recordings he’s released under the nom-de-techno Electric Company. On this, the first Medicine CD since 1995’s Her Highness, he and his new partner-in-song, Shannon Lee (the daughter of kung fu icon Bruce Lee), split the difference between the two genres, tricking out guitar-pop tunes with computerized programming and digital bleeps. The disc is a sonic triumph: the groove-heavy opener, "As You Do," marries gooey Brian Wilson harmonies to muscular acid-squelch bass, and a fountain of pretty acoustic guitars gushes out of the filtered percussive clatter of "Best Future." But the weak songwriting — a problem endemic to both dream pop and electronica — means this album only the scratches the potential of cross-pollinating dream pop and laptop. There’s strong Medicine here, but it could be sweeter.
