a-ha – Under The Makeup

“An exceptional string section.”

Tom: I missed this coming out a couple of weeks ago. Yes, this is still the original A-Ha, with the original members, even thirty years on.

Tim: Huh. Okay.

Tom: They’ve got a new album, and the lead single appears to be a Bond theme. Well, a second Bond theme anyway, they’ve already done one.

Tom: I nearly wrote this off during the introduction, but I’m glad I kept going: that chorus is wonderful. I know I’m a sucker for string sections, but this is an exceptional string section.

Tim: Yes, it is…but I there’s a reason you almost switched off, which is that there’s not much else to it. I don’t mind, because you’re right, and with the strings it really is very very good, if we ignore the Feeling Good similarity.

Tom: Is it the incredible synthpop that everyone associates them with? No. Will it still be played thirty years on? Probably not. But as a lead single, yes, this will do nicely.

Tim: Yeah, I’ll take it, with the caveat that I’ll want more from the album than a lot of violins.