Real Lies: Real Life review – lovelorn electropoppers repackage the 90s

Late nights, empty streets, dog-eared consumerism – this is the world of Real Lies. The London trio prowl around the unfashionable edges of metropolitan existence in a manner so casual it comes across as studious. “The men who drink in A-road pubs / And rave flyers / All lost in the same sea,” runs a line in North Circular. They have created a 21st-century soundtrack by voraciously repackaging 1990s pop: from Electronic to the Beloved and even William Orbit’s Bassomatic, Real Life is a compendium of 90s references, an avowed musical homage. This approach can sometimes feel a bit cold and diffident, and the monotone vocals also undercut the mood. But for all the talk of raves, drugs and A-road pubs, the recurrent theme is love, and monogamous love at that. Lovers’ Lane describes it in impressionistic detail, while the chorus of World Peace (“The only thing I’ve ever known, the sweetest thing I’ve ever known”) shows a vulnerability that belies all the ennui elsewhere.