The second decade of the 21st century has not exactly lacked for artists worshiping at the altar of '80s synth pop, but far too few of those have brought anything of their own to the table along with their circa-1981 Moog riffs and vintage LinnDrum patterns. Irish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Richie Egan -- who operates under the artistic pseudonym of
Jape -- is among those precious few who take their new wave/electro-pop influences and actually do something with them instead of just rehashing the past.
Jape isn't very well known in North America, but in Ireland, Egan's project has earned an impressive degree of renown. Even if the fourth
Jape album,
Ocean of Frequency, doesn't make Egan a U.S. media darling, it's nevertheless an impressive piece of danceable indie pop that bows to the past while pointing toward the future. While it's tempting to play "spot the influence" here and there throughout
Ocean of Frequency -- especially when Egan edges into mid-'80s
Cure territory on "Please Don't Turn the Record Off" or shows the
New Order aces in his hand on "You Make the Love" -- that would be selling this album short by a good distance. There's another side to the
Jape sound, one that revolves around the acoustic guitar -- not an instrument normally associated with the
OMD/
Human League gang. On tracks like "The Oldest Mind," Egan skillfully weaves acoustic guitar lines into an atmospheric, electronic framework. "Its Shadow Won't Make Noise," on the other hand, is an almost entirely acoustic track that feels more like an outtake from U.K. indie folk pioneers
Television Personalities than anything else. It's hard not to admire the fact that such stylistic leaps are so easily made on an album assembled by one man, and one can't help wondering what else Egan will have up his sleeve next time around. ~ J. Allen