Scanners

Submarine

Dim Mak Records

If you prefer your electro pop to have Eeyore clouds instead of the genre’s predominantly sunny disposition, London’s Scanners might just be the band to rain all over your dance-party parade.

Signed by trance-god DJ Steve Aoki’s indie label Dim Mak, lead singer Sarah Daly and guitarist Matthew Mole debuted Violence Is Golden in ’06 with nothing but a drum machine to back them up. But, in working on its sophomore album Submarine, the band picked up a bass player and drummer, ripping Scanners away from a dink two-man show sound.

Similar to Shiny Toy Guns, Scanners combine classic guitar rock with synth dance throbs for 11 tunes that rarely stray from a heartbeat-on-uppers tempo.

It’s lucky that Daly still hasn’t taken enough Zoloft to whether her depressed moans, meaning her emotional spectrum to drip throughout the tracks. Clearly, this girl’s been through some serious shit — as lyrics range from death contemplation and relationship problems to looking for Jesus.

“Salvation,” Submarine’s first single, kicks off with an intro that’s an exact replica of Green Day’s “J.A.R.” It carries an ominous mantra with instrumentation that contrasts with the lyrics like black on white — turbo drums and techno beats keep things light enough to prevent us from downward spiraling into depression.

“Sick Love” layers “dum-dum-dum”s, handclaps, drumming, and guitar — it may sound sound like a mish-mashed jumble, but somehow it works together flawlessly.

A lyrical downer, Submarine is reminiscent of failed relationships and impending death. But the synth-heavy dance backdrop is there to remind us that we better live it up before it’s too late. 6/10