Confidence Man: “TILT” album review – the biggest top-of-the-pop parade

Universally weird and wonderful, Confidence Man return with their portable parade of lavish feel-good frenetics to make you lose you cool.

When Confident Music for Confident People dropped in 2018, it set off a catastrophic bomb in the tropes of dance-pop. Heads were turned, eyebrows were raised and standards were set. Standards that often came with a triplet of words. Hot. Sexy. Cool. … Wild. Dirty. Delicious. Whichever you pick, it wouldn’t make a slightest bit of difference. The Brisbane-based electro-bop pop group would happily settle for either all. Just as brash and confident as the name suggests, their feel-good music is just that. Embracing beauty and the simple pleasures in life. A perfect embodiment of MDMA, it’s no wonder that the supercharge of Confidence Man has flattened festival crowds as it’s rolled across Australian shores at homeground event, Splendour in the Grass to the crazy European festivals, including Primavera Sound in Barcelona. From Europe, they have even settled across the pond with our western cousins parading their showmanship at the Governors Ball in New York.

Now, they are charting an extended edition across UK and Ireland as they awake us up from our lull routines into a feeding frenzy of just letting go. Even if it is on a Tuesday night. Time stops for no man when the man of Confidence rolls into town. Being one of the hottest bands in the world right now, I feel that it’s only fair we introduce you to them member-by-member in all their glory. Leading the graces in illustrious vocals is Janet Planet (Grace Stephenson), Sugar Bones (Aidan Moore), Clarence McGuffie (Sam Hales) and Reggie Goodchild (Lewis Stephenson).

The year of 2022 – a year rife with redemption for our live music – sees Confidence Man return in true whacky form with their successive follow-up to CMFCP with TILT. Full askew and full tilt, it is extremely cheese-80s and I’m all for it. Striving for anything they’re not, they’re unapologetically pop-delectable. Featuring the blaring summer anthem of the year, Holiday, it plays host to a looking glass of freeing dance-pop to get your boogie on. Feels Like A Different Thing and Luvin U Is Easy are also honourable mentions in the world of CM. It makes for an album – slightly off-centre to their debut that is more traditionally funk decor with a slice of dance-pop on the side – that is embarking on new unexplored ventures for the group. With TILT – it just shows that there really is no limit on the sparkling ceiling.

Traversing seductions with Toy Boy to the off-keister lecturing of Break It Bought It, it’s a statement of intent. Starry-eyed and all. Worth a listen. At least a few thousand times.