Aeroplane - We Can't Fly
- Written by Johnny Stockford
Aeroplane appear to be in unstoppable form: not only have they released a string of superb remixes including Friendly Fires' 'Paris' and Grace Jones' 'William's Blood', but their first single, 'We Can't Fly,' has deservedly received glowing reviews. For me it's one of the outstanding songs of this summer.
News of the Italian-Belgian duo's recent split, however, has unsteadied the hype machine. Aeroplane announced their decision to continue as a solo project in June after Stephen Fasano quit due to a lack of genuine collaboration in the studio, leaving Vito De Luca in charge of the creative process - “I’m the studio guy, he was more the DJ, so when the music became more important, the more I was alone in the studio”.
We Can't Fly represents a fresh start. If you're expecting more of the Italo disco brilliance of the 'William's Blood' and 'Paris' remixes, then you could be disappointed. But if you still find a strong urge to dust off your power suit, or slip on some leg warmers and get the Dallas videos out, then this might be for you. It's essentially an unapologetic love letter to the bombast of the '70s and '80s. On steroids.
In interviews De Luca has made it clear that his focus moved away from computerised beats and programming towards a ‘live’ sound. As a result We Can't Fly is more cocksure, and more indulgent than you might expect. Instrumental opener 'Mountains of Moscow' immediately sets the tone, sounding like a lost cut from a '80s sci-fi romance blockbuster that really should have been made: all bombastic air guitar, spacey synths, and orchestral drama. Featuring a huge bass-line and pure oxygen blasts of percussion, 'Superstar' sounds like Stevie Wonder's 'Higher Ground' at, er, very high ground indeed, De Luca's vocals vocoded and seemingly transmitted from a disco in outer space. Giorgio Moroder, an inspiration behind the track, was so impressed that he agreed to re-record an alternate version to be released later in the year. 'London Bridge', meanwhile, is the greatest jam Ratatat never created, the guitars strutting like the best of Nick McCarthy's riffs.
A huge Rolling Stones fan, Vito managed to get the duetting vocalist of ‘Gimme Shelter’, Merry Clayton, on board for 'I Don't Feel', a song that blasts out of the speakers with the soul-singer's Tina Turner-sized lungs. For all the risk-taking, and bold manoeuvres, there's barely a slip-up: 18 year-old superstar-in-the-making Sky Ferreira more than holds her own against such big vocal performances with a highly-composed performance on the cover of Marie Gillain's 'Without Lies', and 'My Enemy' is effectively Justice covering Abba's ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’, which is clearly A Good Thing. If there's a misstep, it comes in the shape of 'Good Riddance', a song that sounds laboured despite Jonathan Jeremiah's fine vocal. Such a minor slip-up can be forgotten easily though when you've got such a fun, genuine time-warp of a debut as this.