Instantly timeless songs

International Blue comes with serious support. Produced by Tony Visconti, the album’s guest singers include Midge Ure, Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory and Liam McKahey (Cousteau).

Ex-Cure/Associates bassist Michael Dempsey also contributes. Emmer himself is Dutch, formerly of Joy Division support band Minny Pops and has played alongside Billy MacKenzie in The Associates.

Untouchable, a Gregory-voiced tribute to MacKenzie, is immediately striking, a soaring yet subtle Scott Walker-via-John Barry epic. The Ure-sung Taking Back My Time is a lovely and lush, conjuring a feeling of being borne over valleys in a glider. Song For A Deserted Wife (voiced by McKahey) is an evocative cousin of Walker’s Montagu Terrace In Blue with a dash of Bowie’s This Is Not America.

More than an exercise, International Blue is about its instantly timeless songs.

[Kieron Tyler - Mojo Magazine]