Fischerspooner - Odyssey (2005)

New York art-pop duo Fischerspooner's debut album, #1, was an end-of-the-millennium musical statement of pure digital and visual style. Written in part to accompany an 'outsider' pop show bursting with dancers, stage effects and elaborate wardrobe, its songs were infused with raw punk energy, modern sounds and conceptual lyrics. Rolling Stone called #1 "an alternate-galaxy hit," and NME called it "the best thing to happen to music since electricity." For their second album, Fischerspooner had a new agenda. They wanted a cohesive album of songs that were more expressive and emotional than their predecessors, aiming for a rich, warm sound in contrast to the crisp surfaces and digital conceptualism of #1. Inspired musically by classic and psychedelic rock, the familiar Fischerspooner sound is now suffused with a lush ambience. "I was thinking of songs I remembered hearing on the radio as a kid," says Fischer. "That warm seventies FM sound coming off the radio from bands like Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles or Pink Floyd." Odyssey, so named for the unexpected emotional and artistic journey it took to make it, takes a sonic leap forward, sounding like nothing before it but still unmistakably Fischerspooner.