The Aeffect – Secrets and Lies / 2004 Hitchhiker / 10 Tracks / http://www.theaeffect.com / http://www.hitchikerrecords.com / Reviewed 22 January 2005

I’ve liked The Aeffect since their track on the Jawbreaker tribute put out by Law of Inertia, and their fill-length, “Secrets & Lies” does not disappoint. The title track opens up the disc, and is reminiscent of all the Depeche Mode and New Order CDs that litter my room. The synthesizer is never arbitrary for The Aeffect, rather it is just as valuable of an instrument as their guitars and drums. If anything could honestly garner the mostly-bullshit title of dance-punk, it would have to be The Aeffect. Shuffling synthesizers and drums vie for the listeners attention as Steven’s faux-British accent. Each track is as danceable and musically fulfilling as the last, making “Secrets and Lies” a fully-energized retro disc that paradoxically is as cutting-edge as they come. The Aeffect is so radically different from anything out in the current period that it was virtually impossible for them not to become famous. The added effect of them not sucking hardcore makes this all the more sweet, as “Secrets and Lies” is one of the most musically tight albums that I’ve had the chance to review.

The ability of The Aeffect to so successfully change their entire sound (in a track like “Escaping”) is one of the reason why they have been able to play with bands as diverse as The Faint, The Locust, and Recover. This track is almost completely computer-free, just allowing Steven to sing over a piano in a much more introspective way than the rest of the tracks on “Secrets and Lies” would necessarily allow for. The ever-shifting arrangements of the band, best shown in the Protean “Unprepared”, allows for a wider range of general sound and the extreme talent of the band allows them to succeed.

The Aeffect’s style may start to fray a little by the last few tracks of “Secrets and Lies”, but the short length of this full-length staves off any tendency to get tired of The Aeffect’s very different style. The perfect mastering of “Secrets and Lies” may seem to some to be soulless, but Steven’s crooning combats that to a large degree. This type of music is supposed to be angular, supposed to sound computer-generated, and in that much of The Aeffect’s catchiness resides. This is what Depeche Mode sounded like in 1985, and since they have gradually became unlistenable since then, The Aeffect is more than deserving to take any momentum that the former once had.

Top Tracks: Eyes Never Lie, Secrets

Rating: 9.0/10