The young Pop mastermind Ryan DeRobertis has been on my radar for a while now, intermittently releasing awesome singles, amazing remixes, and popular mashups, but this weekend, he has released his first full length album of original material. Adversaries is collection of 10 songs featuring amazing pop writing mixed with chill-wave beats and indie-rock production.

You can get the album here on bandcamp.

Holden– The album starts off with Marilyn Monroe interview sample then leads into a chilled out electronic RnB track. Holden perfectly tells us what we should expect from Adversaries. That is, great pop songwriting with indie-electronic production. The hook of the chorus will get stuck in your head for days.

I Took Too Long– This song first came to our ears way back in 2010, so it’s crazy to think that over 2 years later, it still sounds completely current. It’s easy to see why this is so many people’s favorite. The chorus is infectious, the production is interesting, and the lyrics are simple and honest.

Blue-Blue is the track that perhaps shows The Cold Napoleon’s Debt to great 80’s pop music most on Adversaries. The song moves along with delayed guitars, big hooks in the verses and choruses, all over a thick sustained synth throughout. It calls to mind Tears For Fears, U2, and The Style Council. Compositionally, I think this might be the best song on the album. Except, perhaps, One Lonely Night, but we’ll get there later.

Sun & Moon– This song brings down the pace for a bit. The production is spacey and the songwriting is sparse and lean. Melodically, it reminds me, oddly, of mid 2k’s Pop-punk, but the production and vocal style make it feel more like someone looking back to that time rather than trying to replicate it. I’m particularly fond of the three part vocal counter-part at the end, but I’m just a sucker for those kinds of things.

Brighton Daze– This song opens with a false start, of what seems like an awesome beat, but after a few seconds of silence, the real song comes in. The song is short and to the point, with a heavily reverb’d vocal over a great hip-hop beat that starts to fade out just as you were fulling getting into the groove. It leaves you wanting more, which is a good thing. For those who have been following The Cold Napoleons, you may know that Brighton Daze was originally going to be the name of the album!

When The Lights Go Down– This is a mainstream pop song hiding behind indie beats. It never full lets itself explode into a huge chorus that would land it on the radio, but its reserved quality makes it all the more interesting. Lyrically, it’s a kind of Hall & Oates’ Maneater, warning the listener of a particular femme fatale. Musically, it feels most like a Daft Punk song, but, again, with DeRobertis’ fantastic melodic sense.

Boxing Day– This song, like Brighton Daze is most interesting to me because of the hip-hop beat. Not totally unlike James Blake, The Cold Napoleons create simple pop songs over electronic and hip-hop beats. I’m particularly fond of the (synth) harmonica solo in here, calling to mind the great work of Prefab Sprout in the mid-80’s.

Staying Awake– Man, this is a great song.The most purepop production, Staying Awake builds itself around layered guitars, handclaps and powerful vocals. Musically, we’re back to the 80’s influence of groups like Prefab Sprout, The Go-Betweens and Elvis Costello. Lyrically, we see DeRobertis at his most assured, and it’s a nice change of pace from the rest of the album, which feels unsettled and unsure of itself.

One Lonely Night– This is another one that I’ve known for quite some time. In fact, I would say that it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. This new recording is a bit sleeker, and his vocals sound as great and as expressive as they get on the whole album. If you listen to nothing else, please listen to this song.

Neither Understood, Nor Desired- This track functions more as an outro to the album rather than a full song, but the Great Gatsby Quote in the song title shouldn’t be avoided. “For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate [with] his capacity for wonder” This is a great summary of The Cold Napoleons’ work. It is the work of a young man standing in a new world, seeking out a path of his own through the knowledge of those that have come before him.