My Robot Friend is Howard Robot’s New York-based electronic music and art project inspired by the music of Le Tigre - yet Soft Core sounds more like Hot Chip, especially in the robotic delivery of its randomly pencilled lyrics and hand-clapped beats. Where the album flourishes is in collaborations; ‘The Short Game’ with Zombie Nation is a pulsating dance anthem with dark undertones, whilst ‘Waiting’ with Alison Moyet harks back to the golden age of 80s electronica, reminiscent of The Human League and more recent output from The Juan Maclean. Bonus track ‘23 Minutes in Brussels’ is an experimental instrumental that leaves you wondering why the rest of the album wasn’t quite so interesting. It seems My Robot Friend create sparks in live music shows where Howard features as a robot in his performance art spectacle - unfortunately Soft Core fails to galvanize the electronic music scene in quite the same way.

Laura Richards