Despite a five-year career and no breakout hits, Australian outfit Confidence Man has grabbed the attention of some heavyweights.
Signed to Heavenly Records, a label which knows their Roscoff onions from the common-or-garden variety, their 2017 single “Bubblegum” was remixed to bouncing brilliance by the late, great Andrew Weatherall, and there they are, squeezed between Clairo and Courtney Barnett on Glastonbury 2022’s banner poster. Their second album fulfils such faith. It’s a primary-coloured, sexy, cheeky dancefloor explosion.
It's pop, but with a 1990s feel, as in doused in beat-bustin’ MDMA ravin’ spirit rather than compressed TikTok fizz. Albeit Confidence Man are also happy to drop in soul-laced Balearic chuggers such as “Luvin’ U is Easy” (redolent of fare such as Steve “Silk ” Hurley’s remix of Kym Sims’ “Too Blind to See It”) alongside more epic cuts, notably the enormous Italo-house-meets-gospel stomper “Feels Like a Different Thing”.
The band is made up of front-persons Janet Planet and Sugar Bones, who give out a Scissor Sisters-ish snarky, don’t-give-a-damn energy, with producers Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild staying firmly behind the scenes, and additional production by Ewan Pearson, always a steady pair of hands. They gel throughout, mustering a sound of consistently vigorous jollity
The treats are many. The sunshine skank of “Push It Up” has a seductive Santigold-ish contagiousness; “Holiday” sounds like a cross between Orbital and Faithless; “Break It Bought It” offers sassy spoken word Ibiza sunrise disco-house; “Angry Girl” steps away from the Nineties house vibe, momentarily, to offer a memorable, campy punk-funk slammer. There is more than a hint of Basement Jaxx everywhere.
Tilt is just great fun, sweet-natured and easily accessible but not sugary. It's also rude, inventive and raw enough to keep festival crowds rockin’. “Live life on the wild side, just like a bear/We’re alive, we’re just animals with beautiful hair,” runs the “Groove is in the Heart”-like “What I Like”. And that just about sums up the spirit of the whole thing!
Below: watch the video for "Feels Like a Different Thing" by Confidence Man
