Ou Est Le Swimming Pool:The Golden Year

It's impossible to review this London band's debut without acknowledging the recent suicide of frontman Charles Haddon , and yet The Golden Year deserves more than respectful platitudes. In the current climate, their mildly raved-up take on early-80s synth-pop is hardly unprecedented. But it's the tunes that count: epic but soulful and benefiting from Haddon's ability to cut through the glacially cool electronics with a raw, guileless vulnerability. "Jackson's Last Stand" and "Outside", in particular, achieve an exquisite balance between euphoria and melancholy.