Trevor Tanner

The first in a set of three interconnected CDs all released on the same day (available singly and as a limited-edition box set), Bullish feels in many ways like a revisit to the '80s indie scene, particularly as it was in Trevor Tanner's U.K. homeland during the time that he was the leader of the cult favorites the Bolshoi. Interestingly, the album doesn't sound much at all like the Bolshoi's glossy dance-pop, but like the sort of bands that lurked in the twilight. For example, the droning opener "Hero Comes Home," with its jangling guitar riffs and haunting chorus, not to mention its war-themed lyrics, sounds like a gloss on New Order's "Love Vigilantes." Elsewhere, both "Driftwood" and "Majorette" have the dripping-with-atmosphere keyboards and stately pace of classic Japan, and "Black Mariah" and "Filthy and Twisted" have the same sort of grimy, pulsating electronic feel as Love and Rockets or Pop Will Eat Itself, overlaid with a lyrical and vocal style that at times owes a lot to Robert Smith of the Cure. It's difficult not to hear an unstated retro feel to Bullish, but as a whole, the album pulls it off. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide