Class Actress - Journal of Ardency (2010) [Terrible] // Grade: B

Class Actress started as the electro pop side project of Brooklyn based singer songwriter Elizabeth Harper but has now morphed into a three piece band and her main musical focus at the moment. The buzz surrounding them has been particularly strong within the indie rock and even carried over to the fashion world when Yigal Azrouël featured “Someone Real” during his runway show during this past Fall’s fashion week. The attention is well deserved, the 6 songs on Journal of Ardency are painfully catchy mid temp electro pop that will undoubtedly have you nodding along and swaying in your chair without you even realizing it.

Right off the bat with the EP’s opening song “Careful What You Say” you can hear nods to Rapture era Blondie as well as hints of New Order gloominess. The band themselves describe their sound as “Depeche Mode meets early Madonna” and that is pretty much on point, although I’ll add there is a quite a touch of early Magnetic Fields in them as well. Harper’s voice blends perfectly with the bands distinctly 80′s synth sound and makes for a record that sounds like it would have been a mainstay at Danceteria or any one of the prominent dance clubs of New York Cities past.

While a bit top heavy, Class Actress does however prove that they are deserving of the hype and praise being bestowed on Journal of Ardency. But then again having the backing of Brooklyn indie sweethearts, Chairlift and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor (whose Terrible records released this EP) isn’t exactly hurting their cause for hype either. Hopefully they can carry the momentum into a full length.

- Banana Wintour