If there’s one thing we can learn from Modern Love & Death, it’s that the distance from post-punk revival to disco is a lot shorter than one might think. The neon-lit images of acts like the Wire and the Cure, still linger in Hail Social’s field of vision, but on Modern Love & Death they’ve latched onto the heavy four/four backbeat and pumped up the retro-synth effects. Which means they sound a little more like Daft Punk or the Sunshine Underground than Franz Ferdinand or Bloc Party at this point, but thankfully the shift in sound really fits. Hail Social are at their best when they keep things angular and danceable, and that’s what they’ve done here; Modern Love & Death yields some addictive, enticing tunes. Not only that, but structure-wise the songs here are much stronger that those found on their debut; these are some well-done cookies. Where songs on the first album tended to spin out of control, tracks like “Heaven” and “All Night” are trim, sleek, disco-infused confections, full of squishy retro-synths and knobby basslines. The problem is, just about every other track on the album sounds more or less just like “Heaven.” The ear fatigue sets in by track four, and it’s a pity. Hail Social might have found their footing with Modern Love & Death, but it’s not quite enough to pull them out of the swamp. It’s a valiant effort, nonetheless, one that’ll have more than a few newcomers waiting around to see what Hail Social come up with next. – Margaret Reges