Hercules
And Love Affair, a disco act featuring the quivering voice of art-rock star
Antony, hearkens back to a mode of disco in which quivering vocals by someone
as weird or weirder than Antony would hardly count as novel. The model is the
kind of lithe, rapturous disco spun by epochal DJ Larry Levan at the Paradise
Garage, where hi-hat beats sprayed and horn lines wobbled out of shape. Antony
sings significantly on five songs, including the propulsive single "Blind," but
the highlight moments wander between everything from the woozy horns of
"Hercules Theme" to the mournful synth patches in the mid-tempo pop song
"Iris." There's something nagging about the literalness of such a thoroughly
throwback exercise, but Hercules mastermind Andrew Butler has a real knack for
arrangement and emotional range. He knows when to kick disco into action and
when to just kick back and listen.