Radium88 - Beauty is Lies

​Radium88

Beauty is Lies
self-released; 2026

​​By ​Dino DiMuro​​​
​

Radium88 (great name!) is a Nottingham, UK electronic duo led by Tim Thwaites (vocals/instruments/production) and Jema Davies (vocals/percussion/guitar/musical saw) . They've just released their 12th album titled Beauty is Lies, a play on a quote by Keats: "Beauty is truth." However, the theme of the album "has more to do with how our culture seems to have fallen in love with the fake, with the artificial, with downright lies."

The band says this album is a partial return to their post-punk electronica roots. One unusual element for electronica I noted immediately is the use of accordion, normally the province of funny rock (They Might Be Giants, Weird Al). Their music also features both spoken word and "angelic singing," and neo-classical keyboards influenced by Glass, Richter and Einaudi. Other influences are as diverse as Sigur Ros, Vangelis, New Order and Massive Attack.

First of all: great cover! I love it when a single image perfectly sums up the title and intent of an album. Most of the songs are lengthy, around five to seven minutes, so you can settle into a kind of dream pop vibe. "Behold!" starts us off with slowly rising, circular synth patterns behind matter-of-fact pontificating by Jema Davies. The percussion is very interesting, halfway between beats and actual music notes or vocalizing. Around the middle I hear a glockenspiel which fits in perfectly. "In Transit, In Motion" has synth washes and patterns that feel a bit orchestral in nature, while the vocal by Davies (actually singing this time) brings me pleasant memories of Berlin. This is a lovely and bittersweet track and I found myself drawn back to.

"Blindside (simplified)" has a staccato beat and spacey tones and patches, with the first vocal by Tim Thwaites sounding a bit like David Bowie (In dramatic mode) or Pete Hammill. This track suggests dance music for robots who can't dance too well. "Code Red" is the longest track at over seven minutes and creates an eerie mood with distant piano, cloudy synths and "otherworldly" communications. It feels as if you've entered the first phase of the Afterlife, welcomed by a piano player in a misty reception area. This track really is more of a feeling or journey instead of a song. Whistles are credited to Mike Clifford.

"Bad Faith" is like a song from "The Threepenny Opera" heard through a glass darkly. It's got a beat, synth pulses and an insinuating vocal by Thwaites that somehow works despite its extremely weird arrangement. A first for this album is the killer feedback-baked guitar solo in the middle. Totally unexpected is "Les Rêves Perdus de Demain" which is literally techno Reggae!  This is also the first track with prominent accordion which gives this a "tourist in the streets of Paris" feel. Basically a fun instrumental that grew on me the longer it played.  "Shadow of the Uncanny Valley" is great title, which brings us back to deep space with the band's classic distant piano and spooky synth washes.

The title track "Beauty is Lies" is an upbeat dream-poppy song, again featuring that Parisian accordion and the straining, tortured vocals of Tim Thwaites (though I don't blame him when revealing this horrific truth about beauty!). The music here is like a carnival in which only doomed souls may enter, with chunky fuzz notes underlining the choruses. "All You Know (empirical)" ends the album with a tinkly, nursery school melody that suddenly erupts into more electro-pop Reggae. Jema Davies sings alongside her own vocal track delayed by microseconds, a beautiful effect. Instrumentally there's both synths and traditional organ sounds. It's songs like this that make me lose track of the album structure, as I often find myself floating away and forgetting where I am.

If you take any joy in electro-pop, Radium88 have enough twists to make that well-worn genre new and lively. Fun and satisfying!

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