XLR8R

Some bands use their influences so skillfully, so transformatively, that they leave their roots far behind, growing in directions both new and exciting. Kamera is not that band. Their polished synth-pop draws so clearly on predecessors such as Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and, well, a slew of New Wave bands, that their lineage is more of a straight line than a family tree. Still, if this album doesn’t exactly smack of originality, its candy-shell-hard production and highly structured pop songwriting are fun, in an undemanding way, at least when it stays up-tempo. When they get “romantic,” they sound like bad seventh-grade poetry. The wannabe ballads, “Love Surrounds Us” and “Disconnected,” are just inexcusable.