Having not heard anything from dEus in a while I was interested to see frontman Tom Barman hooking up with techno producer CJ Bolland. I’ve always liked Barman’s voice and sentiment, and respected Bolland somewhat, but the result of this collaborative project is as formulaic as infant milk. The Body Gave You Everything is like a generic trip through the last ten years of dance music. There’s a St Germain- esque house tune, a jazzy drum ‘n’ bass number called ‘Soft Foot Shuffle’, there’s one to proverbially ‘chill out’ to (‘Summer’s Here’ – which sounds like Air, with soft vocals and synth pads), there’s even an electro tune with the rudimentary Euro-accented chick speaking over two-step beats (‘French Movies’). A lot of the production must surely be down to Bolland and I’d have expected more: English born, Belgian bred, Bolland has released records on classic techno labels like R&S Records, and has re-mixed artists such as Depeche Mode. Still, Barman is not faultless here; a musician of his experience should surely recognise musical impotence no matter how fresh the venture seems. In short, it just doesn’t work. When the voice sounds great, it doesn’t suit the track (see ‘Assault On Magnus’) and when the track is bearable the voice is misplaced.
Disappointing.