The now defunct and the highly underappreciated Curve’s Doppelgänger, is how a debut album should be by a fiery young act: zestful, yearning, directionless, and totally innocent. Musically, this album undoubtedly was light years ahead of its time. The musicianship as well as the vocals show how talented musicians and vocalists can come together, contributing their own special parts separately, and complimenting each other and making the other even more special.
Unlike the classier and much more polished and musically diverse follow-up Cuckoo, Doppelgänger has a focused style and tempo, which is maintained throughout the length of the album. Mostly upbeat in nature, Doppelgänger has a unique blend of synth and goth-pop, rock, and electronica (which at the time of its release, was known by few and made by fewer), in each and every song. The catchy rhythms of the songs are paradoxically made gloomy by frontwoman Toni Halliday’s intoxicated and droopy vocals. Although Halliday tries to be downbeat, her musical partner Dean Garcia (the other half of the duo), with his incredibly nimble bass-lines and catchy riffs, tries to be otherwise. The result is a very addictive album.
Halliday’s voice and its attitude sound like a naïve but hungry artist, which has a charm of its own. This quality of her powerful, yet unsophisticated vocals have a distinct character, kind of like Sinead O’ Connor from The Lion And The Cobra days, or when they are more playful, like Madonna from her early dance-pop era.
Doppelgänger sounds fresh, even after more than 25 years of its release. Curve’s attitude here is reclusive, which kind of makes this record sexier than its much more matured follow-up Cuckoo. As a bold yet raw album, Doppelgänger makes quite a statement and is a perfect debut for a band like Curve, who will go on to put out one masterpiece after the other for the next 10 years.