One of the myriad of bands who owe as much to Depeche Mode as to the Chemical Brothers or even Paul Van Dyk, 2 Bit Pie (whose founders and main members, Jonathan Fugler and Mike Bryant are also part of the British techno outfit Fluke) combine driving beats with dark guitar grooves and Fugler's voice into catchy alternative dance that can work as well in Manchester as in New York. The lyrics, as is often the case in electronica, deal vaguely with general ideas of life and love and the planets and flying away, and are pretty forgettable because of this, turning the vocals into as much of another musical layer as any of the various synthesizers that are also employed, adding to the overall aesthetic. While most of 2 Pie Island stays in the realm of sinister beats with rock-based guitar lines, 2 Bit Pie also explore their trashy dance side in "Nobody Never," industrial in "Pil," and even creepy Delerium-esque opera-techno in "Soto Mundo." Fugler's voice works surprisingly well over all of these (though it is Dilshani Weerasinghe who adds her soprano to "Soto Mundo"), moving from a low whisper to anthemic bursts that would make Bono proud, and the songs on the album, thanks to their haunting beats and steady, dynamic rhythms, catch one's immediate attention, but because of these same qualities, and the fact that 2 Bit Pie don't stray much from the path laid down by their predecessors, the experience of listening to 2 Pie Island doesn't last much beyond the end of the closer, the seven-and-a-half-minute-long "After Hours." Perhaps this is exactly what electronica music is supposed to be, and supposed to do, anyway: transport the listeners while they're listening, the beats of the drum blending into the heartbeats on the dance floor. But when the last chords fade out, what just happened becomes lost in the general memory of the experience (and all such experiences); specific notes and riffs and verses do not need to be remembered as long as the idea of them, and all those like them, remains. If this is in fact the case, 2 Bit Pie have hit the nail on the head.
© Marisa Brown /TiVo