There’s more than a hint of the time capsule band about Mothxr. A Brooklyn quartet with a band name tweaked for online searchability, and a debut delivering the kind of robotic, downbeat R&B that has felt inescapable over the past few years, they provide a decent snapshot of alternative pop in 2016. But there’s a freshness too amid the overfamiliar whiff of musical zeitgeist. Their weepy bump’n’grind may be a little too indebted to the Weeknd, and their lyrics labour the mood of sexual menace, but there’s genuine drama and some terrific hooks. Touch combines sinuous guitar lines with synthy drops; the title track has some of the languid mournfulness of Julian Casablancas’s best work.
