Love is a powerful thing. It can cause maddening depression or, in other cases, panic attacks. The new Erasure release is an album that certainly will not uplift spirits, though it probably would provide solace for anyone experiencing troubling times.

The disc, Nightbird, makes it appear as though an old flame struck a member of the group the wrong way and kept the group stuck in the ’80s for almost 15 years running. Naturally, it must’ve been time to put something out to keep the famed decade of disco-styled rock alive, and the group gives us Nightbird to accomplish that task.

With all the synthesizers and electronic music at their fingertips, Vincent Clarke and vocalist Andrew Bell formed the group in 1985. Clarke was a member of Depeche Mode at the time. Bell had no experience whatsoever with producing music, but after only a few years, the duo landed top spots on the music charts.

Notable hits of the past include “Oh L’Amour” from 1987’s Wonderland and “A Little Respect” off The Innocents (1988). All were classics heard on dance floors of fraternity parties and other places in the early to late ’90s.

Listening to the rhythms across tracks, it appears as if Erasure does not mind the fact that all of its tracks appear to sound virtually the same. Not to mention the fact that all of the electronic rhythms were most likely manufactured on synthesizers and drum machines back in the group’s heyday.

Nightbird begins with the song “No Doubt,” a track with a small bass line and the overreaching sound of Bell’s voice singing about “Dying to show you what love is about / To teach you and please you we must work it out” and backing it up with a chorus of Clarke’s voice, which ultimately creates a melodic track.

Contrary to the album as a whole, Erasure included “Breathe,” a track that is less depressing than the rest of the tracks as a whole. With the chorus “It’s bitter without you / I can’t live without you / And I’m in love with you” and vibrant synthesizer line, the tune comes off as if it is a moving-on-from-a-relationship song. Other songs seem to be about pleading with a current lover to stick around or mourning a recent breakup.

Compared to today’s pop music, Nightbird seems futile, if not juvenile, in the scope of the music that the duo has played together. Understandable if produced in the ’80s, it just doesn’t seem able to hold interest because the electronic music-production tools are far and away more advanced than the amount to which these two group members have decided to take advantage of them.

Interestingly enough, Clarke brings the influence of his Depeche Mode roots with “I Broke it All in Two.” In fact, this song is almost entirely reminiscent of the music from Depeche Mode’s Violator (1990). Perhaps it most closely resembles the single from that release, “Clean,” with its subtleties in beats.

More is clearly desired from this recent Erasure release in terms of musical complexity and entertainment value. A lot of the songs appear to use the same redundant schemes to buoy the album. What we find in Nightbird is something to be expected from a group just starting out, not a group that has been around the block two or three times.

Right now, Erasure is on a tour stretching across Ireland, England and Germany. The duo is set to begin a cross-country tour in mid-April lasting through June 3 and will appear in Chicago at the Chicago Theatre April 29 and 30. For more information, see the web site: www.erasureinfo.com

Grade: D