Secondhand Rapture, the 2013 debut by New York alt.pop duo Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow, suffered from the distraction of the album’s accompanying visuals, Secondhand Captures. Sensibly, the songs are left this time to sink or swim on their own merits. At first, this seems to work: Painted is an arresting opener, Plapinger’s multitracked vocals repeatedly asking: “What did you think would happen?”, offset by Hershenow’s house-influenced euphoric backing; the more introspective Wrong Victory is equally powerful. Elsewhere, there are pleasing similarities with I Break Horses and a dialled-back Florence Welch. But as the album progresses, Plapinger’s vocals too often fail to engage, particularly on the more downbeat tracks, and there is a paucity of good ideas towards the end.
