I was on the treadmill the first time I listened to 3 AM (La La La), the latest album from Confidence Man, walking at 3.5 miles an hour, a brisk pace, but not quite enough to keep up with the strobelight pulse of songs like “I Can’t Lose You” and “Control.” Maybe I could have stepped up my own speed to a run, or at least a jog, but I didn’t feel like it, so I kept walking off beat, waiting to see if the vibe would shift somewhere over the course of an album that, four songs in, was starting to sound a little too much like a late ‘90s Eurodance throwback.
Confidence Man is the Australian four-piece fronted by Janet Planet and Suga Bones and backed by the veiled and cloaked individuals Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie. I first heard them during lockdown when someone DMed me Yuksek’s track “Gorgeous,” which features Confidence Man. Two years later, the band released Tilt, their second full-length, which quickly became a personal favorite. “Angry Girl” is the song that has appeared most often in my sets since 2022 because it has a dance punk vibe that works very well at L.A. clubs and it mixes seamlessly with The Rapture’s “House of Jealous Lovers.” But, the thing that made Tilt one of my favorite albums of that year was that it was super cheeky and the music was all over the place, kind of like a cross between Bis and Chicks on Speed back at the turn of the millennium. Given the new album’s title, which definitely alludes to both KLF (“3 AM Eternal”) and maybe also references ATC (“Around the World (La La La La La)”), it seemed like Confidence Man would continue that vibe. Fifteen minutes into 3 AM (La La La), though, I started to think that the spirit driving TILT was lacking on this album.
If I were tuned into Spotify, I would have just skipped through tracks or moved on to another album, but I actually purchased 3 AM (La La La) and downloaded it without hearing more than a couple preview Reels on Instagram. I had to stick it out for the whole album.
Yeah, it sounds completely old-fashioned to keep listening when it’s so easy to move onto something else, but it’s still really important to do that. At least, it is in the case of 3 AM (La La La), because it’s not until the fifth track that the album starts to get really interesting. “Breakbeat” is exactly what the title states. It’s a breakbeat track, albeit one that Janet Planet twists into a hedonistic ‘00s style banger when she spits out the refrain, “I’ve got a pill in my pocket/And I really want to drop it/But I’m not gonna pop it/Til I hear a breakbeat.”
“Breakbeat” is immediately followed by “SICKO,” its slow groove screaming for retroactive placement in a 1990s movie soundtrack as Suga Bone’ drawn out delivery recalls Bobby Gillespie on Primal Scream albums like Screamadelica and Vanishing Point. Immediately after that is “Real Move Touch,” where guest vocalist Sweet Irie’s reggae soundsystem-style intro drops listeners into a very early ‘90s house cut. “Far Out” heads back to breakbeat, this time with a late night edge. The songs lyrics— to put this in a very pre-pandemic L.A. context— sound as if they could have been lifted from conversations in line at the taco stand or drive-thru after last call.
As the album progresses, I really hear what Confidence Man is doing. Remember how I mentioned KLF earlier? The dance music duo had some big hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s and they are a stated influence for Confidence Man. KLF is also a conceptual/performance art project known for both being a part of pop music while being critical of the system. In 1988, after KLF precursor The Timelords released the U.K. chart hit “Doctorin’ the Tardis,” Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond released The Manual (How to Have a Number One Hit the Easy Way). The book is a legit guide to making a hit song, but it also has a subversive bent, so it went on to make the rounds in underground music circles once file-sharing became a thing. The deeper I get into 3 AM (La La La), especially on subsequent listens, the more I hear the influence of The Manual.
Once I get to the title track, which closes out the album and is a total banger, the whole album makes more sense. It is a throwback and it is a party album, but it’s not really nostalgic in the way you might assume an ode to rave-y ’90s pop would be. It’s the sort of album that’s bright on the surface, but, there’s a darkness lurking underneath. I hear it in Janet’s la-la-las on the title track, which are much closer to Rosemary’s Baby than they are to ATC. That’s something I really appreciate.
In case you’re wondering, no, I don’t know which song(s) will make it into my DJ sets, but, in the meantime, you should give the album a listen in full. Maybe listen to it more than once. Maybe buy 3 am (La La La) and just play it on repeat whenever you’re in the mood for something that’s more complex that it first appears.
You can also catch Confidence Man live in L.A. at The Fonda on March 6, 2025.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.
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