The polarising figure of Paul Rose rounds off what has arguably been his highest profile year to date with the successor to November's Talk Torque. "Hardbody," available digitally or as a one-sided vinyl, follows the same path as its predecessor. Unashamedly overblown with '90s chart-house euphoria, the tempo steadily builds by suspending a glossy arpeggio over a swaggering pop bounce.
With the gears in full anthemic throttle, an alluring female hum adds to the feel-good factor with sledgehammer subtlety, before a vocoded voice preaches nonsensical hedonism over a reach-for-the-lasers breakdown. It's not quite Xpander-era Sasha, and it's not quite the hatchback breaks the Plump DJs peddled in the new millennium, but it's definitely somewhere in-between. Make no mistake, Hardbody won't win back any of Rose's detractors, but judged within its purposed context, it's a well-made and infectious mainstream dance record.
