TEMPOSHARK have already had pulses racing around these parts with fine thinking-person's electro-pop singles like the saucy "Neon ?" and the affecting "Invisible Ink" and with classy new single "It's Better To Have Loved" they're again pulling up at the pearly gates leading to pop heaven.
Actually, this one's a bit of a deluxe package all round. We get two versions of "It's Better To Have Loved" for starters and they're both intriguing and impressive, if coming from patently polar opposite ends of the spectrum. The GUY SIGSWORTH mix is a classy slice of electro-balladry topped off with the sort of studio cream he's used so well with previous high-profile clients such as Madonna and Bjork, while the unadorned 'original' mix of the song may be considerably sparser and vulnerable, but if anything that works better for me and merely accentuates the song's there-but-for-the-grace lyrics.
Guy Sigsworth isn't the only influential name in the 'Shark's address book either, it seems, as two of their other tunes also receive effective remodellings from rated characters. METRONOMY has already made a name as remixer for Ladytron and Franz Ferdinand, and here turns the previously guitar-laden, Imogen Heap duet "Not That Big" into a cheeky, slightly kitschy electro-pop liaison along the lines of Marc Almond and Cindy Ecstacy. It's great, but still dwarfed by French artisan AVRIL'S version of the already-excellent "Invisible Ink" which turns this already emotional affair into something unbelievably dreamy and heart-rending with its' echo-ey vocals and sloo-oow, zombie beats merely accentuating the track's defiant kiss-off line "don't leave the world without making them think!" Needless to say that's an emotion we should all be seconding.
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Temposhark, then, are manoeuvring into a strong position to take on 2006. They clearly understand the importance of giving with "It's Better To Have Loved", but their smart, affecting electro-pop will surely see them being loved in return on a much wider scale before too much longer.
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