In a world full of disassociation there is always someone more disassociated than you. In such circumstances, trivialities assume an importance they wouldn’t normally have. As if to provide evidence of this are London based duo Allan’s Grand Day Out with their Maastricht EP.
It wouldn’t take much effort to work out that this duo have an art school background but nonetheless they have avoided much of the expected pretention here. In its place, you get a curiously cool collection of ambient electro pop hybrids that convince when they really shouldn’t. Much of the appeal of these songs comes from Zoë Klinck’s voice as it drifts between laidback disinterest and spellbinding charm over the synthetic backing tracks. The most commercial song here is undoubtedly “Panda Tears” where emotional discontinuity is hidden under what could easily be remixed into a very decent dance track.
Understated they most certainly are but Allan’s Grand Day Out make the grade here. Even better, this EP is available as a free download .