Three years ago, having gained an impressive reputation through their live shows, electro-rockers BLAKALASKA unleashed their debut EP, Machine, with much fanfare and praise.

Since then the band have been comparatively quiet, though they’ve still found opportunity to complete a couple of mini-tours of the south of England and also playing some great sets at Guernsey festivals, and now they’ve released their second EP, Joyride.

Given the title and the neon illuminated DeLorean on the cover it’s probably not a surprise that, generally, the EP is a slightly lighter counterpart to its predecessor and it gets going with the title track that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen the band live.

Joyride is probably the most straightforward and instantly engaging track of the set sounding huge and as if it could really cause an explosion on the dancefloor arguably at both a rock or dance night.

Falling Into Free takes things in a slower and more atmospheric direction as the synths (Ollie McVey), guitar (Oliver Farrimond), bass (Joe Langlois) and drums (Barney Bean) build under Lee Rosete’s vocals to a crescendo before Afterlife adds something a bit dirtier with more distorted guitars and darker hued synths.

While the production on the Joyride EP is as clean and precise as they come, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that it all falls somewhat between two stalls, unsure if it wants to be shiny electro pop or dirty electronic industrial.

Added to this it all feels a bit less immediate and engaging than Machine, as if there is some real power under hood that’s just not quite firing on all cylinders, possibly due to the fact that the band have been rather quiet of late and this release has, somewhat, come out of nowhere.

That said the three tracks do evoke the feeling of a mysterious trip and it’s hard not to be engrossed by BLAKALASKA’s Blade Runner-esque style of musical retro futurism, and I would imagine their natural realm would be more played loud in a dark club than being listened to on a pair of ear buds.