The first time I heard Melbournian Josh Armistead was on his extremely stripped-back acoustic They Saw Him Dancing And Capering In The Woods (2005). That was a lovely, quiet album - so personal it was like sneaking a peek at someone’s diary. So to see him pop up again, this time as part of electrosynth rockers Outrun, was a bit of a surprise. FutureNature is tapped directly from the vein of such Aussie dancey successes as Cut Copy or the Presets, with a similar thumping retro aesthetic and dreamlike vocals.

 

Here, Josh’s voice drifts across the commanding beats to conjure a feverish atmosphere, telling tales of self-destruction, starting over, and a million late-night 80s flicks. Opener ‘Out of the Ashes’ smashes things open with tons of energy, ‘Runnaround’ is the lower-key soundtrack for a painful night alone, and ‘Double Dragon’ draws from the well of 8-bit nostalgia. But it’s all a bit anaesthetic, and FutureNature’s biggest problem is that it lacks a sense of fun - and consequently everything sounds a bit too solemn, and a bit too heavy for a dancefest.