OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) – Punishment Of Luxury – 2017, Vinyl, LP

Vinyl LP pressing. 2017 release, the thirteenth studio album by synthpop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), and the third since their 2006 reformation. Produced by OMD, The Punishment of Luxury shares it’s name with a 1891 painting by Italian artist Giovanni Segantini. In December 2016, OMD frontman Andy McCluskey expounded: “We’ve taken that idea and extrapolated it into sort of… a metaphor for modern life, really. First world problems. All of the shit we have to deal with is only a problem that’s created for you by some suggestion that came from a marketing man or a PR job that’s been done on you.” Humphreys said of the album’s musical direction: “We’re still trying to maintain our connection with our roots, but we’ve tried to go a bit more, even more stripped-down than English Electric.” McCluskey added: “There’s a little bit more sort of crunchy industrial sound in a few things, a bit glitchy-er. But you know, the bottom line is that we have a sense of melody that we just can’t throw off.”