Coloma: Finery

It might not look especially imposing on paper, but the modern-day marriage of song-form and electronic music rarely amounts to more than forced matrimony. Exceptions like Björk and Radiohead have cleared lasting inroads, but more often, attempts at reconciliation treat song and sound as oblivious partners who don't recognize each other's wants and needs. Hewing close to The Postal Service's recent Give Up, the German group Coloma plays electro-pop of a uniquely full-formed sort, but unlike Give Up, Coloma's new Finery couldn't work outside its precious electronic context. Hailing from Cologne, a city whose greatest export at the moment may be sound design, the band matches nervy, glossy electronics to the voice of Rob Taylor, whose romantic properness falls between the loungy coos of ABC and Bryan Ferry. Taylor's high style, from his old-world enunciation to lyrics that carve into capital-letter themes of Love, Loss, and Leisure, proves singular on its own. But it also does a curious dance with the meticulous backing tracks that lift it up and pull it down according to mood. "The Second Closer Still" lays Taylor's vengeful sorrow in a bed of itchy clicks, before "You Are Here" opens into a nimble microhouse gait swept up with sour memories that turn sweet through romantic longing. Taylor's voice and words stretch conflicted drama to overripe extremes, but they find a perfect match with backing tracks that counter and gain from their bloating. When all the parts come together in songs like "Summer Clothes" and "If You Can't Be Good," Finery trades on glorious numbers ready for a 22nd-century stage musical.