If you arrived here, looking for something similar to Davey Havok and Jade Puget’s day job in AFI, then move along, there’s nothing to see here. If you are looking for an album stuffed full of exquisite electronic, then take a set. Now into their 5th album Blaqk Audio is the side project of the punk pair and has more in common with 80’s bands like Duran Duran and Human League than anything else. A shared love of all things electronica, the duo started Blaqk Audio with the prerequisite to not play any organic instruments. AFI have always dabbled with keyboards and synth, but Blaqk Audio is where they take it to the next level and with “Only Things We Love,” they’ve pushed the envelope even further.
Lead track, “The Viles” is a slamming dancey number bringing to mind the keyboard maestro himself Gary Numan at his best and Davey and Jade could well be Andy Bell and Vince Clarke on the Erasure-esque Unstained. Despite their best efforts “Caroline In The Clip” is a track that has a real band feel to it, with more of a grounded primal drum beat and is perhaps the most sombre song on the record, while the uplifting melody of “Summer’s Out Of Sight” will have you dancing for days. “Enemies Forever” is a dance number that could well be heard in clubs in Ibiza albeit with a dark undertone. The closest we get to a track that could pass for an AFI track is the beautifully melodic “Dark Arcades,” a song that sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack of an unnamed 80’s classic. Recalling teenage love the duo finish up with a pretty little track called “Matrimony and Dust” and suddenly I’m transported to the disco at the local youth club in 1986. Magical stuff!
It would seem, that whatever Havoc and Puget put their mind to, be it punk, hardcore or even future pop they excel at and even surpass most of their peers. A superb album full of tunes, that are very now, but with a huge tip of the hat to the past.