Now, I hate to start a review on, like, a downer, man, but here it comes anyway.

Most synth-driven pop can fall into one of two very distinct categories: deeply drab overblown dirge-pop sung by self-obsessed drama queens; or half-finished songs by obsessive gear junkies who get the timbre of the authentic 808 snares just right, but forget all about the tune.

With that in mind, Victories At Sea should take heart that they’ve appeared on ANBAD at all. Victories at Sea say that they are experimental, name-checking both New Order and Boards of Canada as influences.

They could have chucked Erasure in there if Future Gold is anything to go by, a song that is as strenuously serious in tone as it is sternly camp in execution.

Victories At Sea // Future Gold

Future Gold has such a stridently thrusting keyboard line that the song is impossible to either dislike or dismiss.

Harking back to a time when Top Of The Pops was populated by thin young men standing behind banks of equipment with the word “ROLAND” emblazened on the bits of metal that didn’t have Midi cables poking out, Victories at Sea exhibit the best kind of nostalgia: careful, caring and serious.

MORE: victoriesatsea.co.uk