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REVIEWS:

Erasing Clouds:
Collette Carter's lead singer Wilynda has a great pop singer's voice, one that's both stylish and human, pretty and grounded enough to seem conversational. The duo's debut album The New Stroboscopic probes gently into human emotions through danceable pop songs which are infectious, catchy and sweet. Wilynda sings tales of love, infatuation, memories, goodbyes and other affairs of the human heart with an intimacy and clarity that give the album an immeasurable reservoir of emotional resonance. If the songs and her voice are enough to make The New Stroboscopic remarkable, they aren't the whole story of Collette Carter. While it's easy to imagine these songs over undistinguished, plain dance beats or techno grooves, here they're supported by a wonderfully layered, subtle array of electronics and atmosphere, generated by the other half of the duo, Rod (also of Pacificia). The swirl of colors decorating the album's cover mimic the bright, mesmerizing swirl of sounds decorating the music, giving it depth, scope and pleasure. The blend of emotion with pop talent with right-in-place beats and enveloping musical moods give The New Stroboscopic a fresh, now feeling. Yet the album also has a comforting pleasure about it. It feels like home and adventure, like a quiet night with a loved one and a perfect view from the tallest mountain.

FAC193:
I knew when I first heard Collette Carter on tbtmo’s “Vibon” compilation that they (it is a duo) had something very good going on. Upon hearing “The New Stroboscopic”, my suspicions were confirmed. They wander around the musical plane in a place populated by synthesized pop, minimalist ambient sounds and immaculate beats that threaten to make this music the first truly “listenable” IDM record ever made. The IDM element here (for the uninitiated, IDM stands for “Intelligent Dance Music”, a sad little journalistic box to fit artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre into) is never the overriding element, thankfully. It’s the voice that enchants here—Wilynda's is the most memorable female voice in electronic since Tracey Thorn’s Everything But the Girl reimagined themselves as a bossanova group with a synths-and-jungle-beats bent. Her voice slides around in the opening track “Wait”, takes a bit of a backseat in portions of other tracks (like the following track, “Fingerprints”) and, despite beautiful bleeps and synth washes, firmly establishes itself as the principal instrument in the mix. One other saving grace of Wilynda’s voice is that she enunciates—something I’m afraid I can’t say for lots of today’s vocal “talents”, ahem…lots of standouts on the disc, though I’m most fond of “Silverlake” where precise sequencing on a level that most people deem Kraftwerkesque collaborates with a mindful beat and THAT voice overdubbed to heaven and back. I have listened to this cd at varying volumes and attention spans off and on during the week, and I have to say it’s absolutely gorgeous. "The New Stroboscopic" is a mandatory listen for someone looking for synthpop with a foot firmly planted in the 21st Century.

Indie Spinzone:
I heard the "sweet clip" from this album on the Darla site (the song Wake Up Next To Me) and decided I liked it a bit so I took the chance and dove in despite being burned by that in the past. This album melds electronica with a voice as sad as it is poignantly beautiful. Lead singer Wilynda has a voice, (as well as this band has a sound) which reminds me of classic period 4AD type bands as well as others. In fact the track Silverlake reminds me of some of the early noises OMD used to make. This is, well lets not say a slow affair but rather I'd say the songs are "earnest", but it never gets tiring, and the songs often feature a somewhat unusual noise accompanyment to her voice but it all somehow comes together as on the song Everyday. It gets really easy to start digging this, and I'm quite sure it's the breathy and beautiful quality of her voice that makes it all possible. This band manages to capture alot of the sincerity that only a few groups such as Area have ever managed to previously. If you'd like something a little more touching and tender, and dare I say beautiful, then look no further. Hip-ometer Rating ~ 9.8

Ink19:
Don your platforms and hang that mini disco ball from your rearview with pride as you blast Collette Carter from your little rave friendly car. A sort of ethereal '70s pop/funk/dance with Sarina Paris-sounding lyrics. Collette Carter is Rod Sledge and girlfriend Wilynda, a long time team that have attacked many musical projects such as Stereo Symphonic and Pacifica, finally settling, for now, with this one. Bringing the best of bedroom friendly electronic infused pop to our stereos, this duo is stewed in cool and garnished with sad lyrics touching on seasons, sex, and making music with your significant other. Interesting and fun, the best songs are the Spring anthem "Tank Tops and Flip Flops" (surprisingly the most sensual track on the whole disc), the sweetly written "Insincere Mix" ("Can I take a picture just as you are cause your eyes look perfect with all the stars and I'd like to remember you before you ever broke a heart"), and the almost hip hop "Fingerprints." Shake it to some serious grooves with smart lyrics about contemporary subjects sprinkled with some great flavor.

Intellectos:
Dreamy synth pop similar to early moodier OMD (but with female vocals), Cocteau Twins, or quieter Ladytron. This is their first release from TBTMO!! The band is made up of Wilynda and Rod of Philadelphia.

Lockergrome:
Many bands come at you fast and furious, throwing loud beats and chunky guitars at you. On the other side of this is Collette Carter. This band is like audio velvet. It's smooth, frictionless. It caresses your earlobes and seduces your brain lobes. This girlfriend/boyfriend duo mixes the flowing ethereal vibe of Sade and Enya with a techno beat and atmospheric hooks that recall more rock-oriented bands like Velocity Girl. This isn't music that attacks you with its ferocity. It's music for lovers, by lovers, that is lovely. Ah, yeah.

Popmatters:
Synths. I love 'em, as any six months worth of my reviews should prove, especially under the fingers of an Alan Wilder, a Joe Jackson -- people who have a gift for, or love of, the instrument. Wilynda and Rod, who are Collette Carter, clearly love synths too (they also love each other, having been together for 11 years. And more power to them). But, based on the evidence of this album, I'm not sure I'd say they have a gift for them. The songs here are bright, shiny things that don't leave you with any strong identification, like Christmas lights in June. Part of the problem is the production decision to bury Wilynda's voice in the mix, but a trip to the web site to check out the lyrics confirms that they're not really worth hearing anyway: "this conversation on dissipation is for yr consolidation". "this new stroboscopic cleans out all my pockets. i need an outlet". Like My Favorite's Joan of Arc Awaiting Trial, Collette Carter's The New Stroboscopic is the kind of CD that plays right into my hands: Techno-driven, synthetically composed and textured electro-pop. Yet it never really makes a solid hit. All the elements are there, but loving an album is in some ways like loving a person, you can't make yourself do it if you don't, even if there's every reason why you should. I would likely hire Wilynda and Rod as a producing-arranging team, but as songwriters they need to make a few more trips to the well. This is the kind of record which begs the question: Why should you listen to it? True, it's pleasant enough to listen to, but lots of records are pleasant. It's difficult to build a career on being pleasant (Enya notwithstanding). To compel listening, a record must reward listening. It's really as simple as that. There is a unique chemical element that separates the craftspeople from the artists in pop, which is, basically, talent. Having already made a comparison to synth-poppers My Favorite, perhaps the best thing I can say for Collette Carter is that they set that band off so nicely. They're so slight, they make the other look greater.

POPnews: (translated from French to English... kind of)
Well then, for this first album of Collette Carter, I feel that it will be necessary to make a superhuman effort of imagination. Not that the music is unpleasant, quite to the contrary, the 11 songs of this album are attaching, naive and brilliant, but the references of the group, their inspirations seem so varied and varied that the task of the poor writer is in fact rather difficult. Collette Carter is an incredible duet which establishes the bases of a dialogue between the indiepop of the Nineties (Velocity girl, Pastels) and the vague emo-magnet which starts to emerge. Left Stephin Meritt to two heads, Collette Carter it is the made lightness and the obviousness melodies, enrubannées in arranged laces and keyboards vintage. The atmosphere is nonchalante, slightly melancholic person, soft and vaporous. The music is effective in the direction where with a minimum of effort, without ornaments it makes fly with each refrain. Who more is, by taking again " Wait " (head of work of minimal ballade signed by Geoff Farina - from now on tedious Karate - for its project Secret Stars) they show that they have good taste and of imagination. It is deux-là, I feel it, could very quickly become my best friends if the place were not already taken. Of course, of time to other a continuation of agreement Everything drank the girl, but can one recalls really complain some? Not, I do not believe it, in these times of plunderings of the Eighties, the disc of Collette Carter it is really a puff of air and welcome originality in a world magnet which sometimes drives back neck and of the vocodor.

Splendid:
Collette Carter has raided Stephin Merritt's wardrobe and she's painting the town. The couple formerly known as Stereo Symphonic are reveling in their innate ability to invent interesting pop soundscapes at will. Sharing Merritt's acumen for eclectic synth-sounds and drum-machines, Rod, aka Pacifica, uses his keyboard expertise to create an interactive mélange of sounds and beats. With its emphasis on old Emersonian Moogs and Rushian sounds, the record is a handy primer for anyone who wants to know what ever became of New Wave. Meanwhile, vocalist and girlfriend Wylinda leaves her imprint by glazing each breakbeat with her liquid-nitrogen voice. I am usually leery of this type of music, fearing that it will be too heavy on the techno thumping and too light in the substance department, but Collette Carter is a happy exception. The first track is a cover of the Secret Star's "Wait", which recalls the soundtracks of planetarium presentations and under-the-sea IMAX films; you'll feel yourself growing comfortable as the music washes over you. By the time you reach the alluring "Wake Up Next to Me", you are firmly ensconced; clearly, you're going nowhere. Wylinda's vocal lines and multitracked harmonies oscillate wildly, to maximum effect -- who needs back-up singers? Rod shows off some of the group's jazzier influences by opening the groovy "Tank Tops & Flip Flops" with a drag-and-roll drumbeat and a mellow piano progression that slinks all the way through the song before speeding up for the verse. Wylinda takes the torch firmly in hand, lamenting lost love and all its incumbent complications. The highly entertaining "Insincere Mix" begins with what sounds like the keyboard line from Taxi, and climaxes with a perfect application of the chorus from "Video Killed the Radio Star". This kind of "open-door" policy presents Collette Carter with many fecund choices to exploit -- and they do just that, on every track. The New Stroboscopic offers so much ingrained filigree that the listener, regardless of musical tastes, will have enough listening satisfaction to last a long time. If you're still uncertain about electronic music, The New Stroboscopic may well be the record that finally gets you down off the fence.

TRIC zine:
For those who like vocal chill-out, but feel it's getting a little stale or predictable, you may want to slip into the new, quirky feel of Collette Carter. It's got a little 80's synth-pop corniness mixed with looped female lyrics and some mushy breakbeats. Not satisfied? How about a Secret Stars remix? (Yes, Karate). That's a nice breath of fresh air! However, there are a few later parts that get a little monotonous to me, but overall this is a really fun piece.