I Say I Say I Say

Listening notes

Inside I Say I Say I Say

“Always” is so complete a pop single that it can cast the rest of I Say I Say I Say into shadow. The album is better heard as the point where Erasure softens the harder electronic outlines of Chorus without abandoning its precision.

“Run to the Sun” supplies speed and brightness; “I Love Saturday” leans into uncomplicated lift; “So the Story Goes” and “Because You’re So Sweet” let the record become more inward. The contrast is the point. This is not ten attempts to reproduce “Always.”

For a next move, go backward to Chorus to hear the sharper architecture, or forward to the self-titled Erasure album to hear the duo stretch beyond conventional pop-song proportions.