Pitchfork

Client value their anonymity. As the first signing to Depeche Mode keyboardist and founding member Andy Fletcher's Toast Hawaii label, the two-woman band bill themselves as Client A and Client B and limit promotional photos to shots of their torsos and legs, decked out in matching outfits. They claim it's an attempt to place emphasis solely on their music-- which makes it just another in a series of anti-image images. It's sort of amusing that an up-and-coming synth-pop band on an indie label fashions itself as an alternative to what it sees as manufactured pop. I'm not sure that either Led Zeppelin spent a lot of time worrying about The Partridge Family, or that Client should be worried about poaching Jessica and Nick's potential fanbase, but we won't hold any of that against them.

If you must know, Client are Kate Holmes (no, not that one) and Sarah Blackwood (yes, that one). Holmes is the musical brain, a former member of both Frasier Chorus and Technique, and the wife of former Creation Records boss Alan McGee. Blackwood is the Yorkshire-accented former singer from Dubstar, who scored a few minor hits in the mid-1990s, most notably "Stars" and "Not So Manic Now". (Ironically, considering all of Client's pop hand-wringing, the musical half of Dubstar, Steve Hiller, has moved into songwriting, recently penning a top five UK single with ex-Take That member Mark Owen.)

Unfortunately, that anonymity that the members of Client are aiming for-- they're going to get it, because their nondescript, evasive approach to promotion spills over into their music. Neither off-putting nor engaging, Client's debut occupies a rather uninteresting place in electropop's soft middle. At its best, it hums along with a sort of detached glacial sheen, skipping along on pleasant beats and tones, a healthy dose of attitude, and a bed of charming, jaunty singles. Too much of the time it comes off as a bit waterlogged because of its lack of sonic or vocal range.

Blackwood's still-charming vocals are at their best when Client walk the fine line of detailing the life out on the dark, unsettling underbelly of cityscapes, like a less floral, more feminized Brett Anderson. In album opener/mission statement "Client", the band warns lays out their raison d'etre, intoning a series of catchphrases such as "We never say no" and "Satisfaction guaranteed." This sort of erotic cabaret act doesn't encroach on Peaches' shock-jock territory-- it explores eroticism rather than wields it as a weapon.

At their best, Client explore sex ("Price of Love"), drugs ("Pills"), and rock and roll ("Rock and Roll Machine") with cool, calculated precision. Some critics may sneer at Blackwood's coming "late" to the electropop game, but her warm Northern vocals suit the sound. Comparisons to Ladytron and Adult. may be inevitable, but Client aren't as biting or melodically thrilling as either group. Still, this is a decent start-- both for the band and Fletcher's label.