Echo Echo vinyl

Alt-rock, electro and new wave fusionist IAMX - real name Chris Corner) - has spent the last 16 years building his reputation via stylish, synthesizer-laden works. It's something of a surprise then to find that "Echo Echo", his latest album, dispatches with electronics almost entirely. Instead, it sees him serve up radically reworked, re-recorded acoustic versions of tracks from his bulging catalogue built around softly-spun folk guitars, simmering strings and sparse orchestration. For those used to his very particular leftfield electro-pop sound, it takes a little getting used to, but it's well worth persevering: in some instances, his songs sound even better (and certainly more fragile and emotive) when they're delivered in this most traditional manner.