When times are hard for Britain, Sheffield produces brilliant electronic pop groups. The Human League in the 80s, Moloko in the early 90s… and now International Teachers of Pop, arriving ready for Brexit with a dazzling debut album and tour.
They first appeared last summer with minor-key synthpop epic Age of the Train, which they described as “Northern Rail-baiting nerd disco”. A sample of an automated station announcement (about a delay to the 13.21 to Manchester airport) graced the middle-eight, and other songs tackle modern life’s absurdities through similarly witty means. On Repeat is about the monotony of going to work in May’s Britain set to a Giorgio Moroder-style soundtrack. A Kraftwerk-like cover of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall is, fittingly, called The Re-moaner Mix.
ITOP are Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer (of Moonlandingz and the Eccentronic Research Council), plus singer Leonore Wheatley, whose vocals give the music an iciness redolent of Ladytron. The album was written on analogue synthesisers and dusty drum machines, but the band have a shiny, contemporary vision.
The live show will match this enthusiasm: bedroom-style dance routines and live dancers called the Love Troupe are promised. Flanagan says that in the current atmosphere of “political carnage, people need music & live shows like ours… ITOP is a bona fide 125bpm cuddle for the masses!”
ITOP’s self-titled debut is released on Desolate Spools on 8 February on Desperate Spools; their tour begins on 16 February in Glasgow
