I believe this to truely be neuroactives best album, and about as good of an example of dark synth pop as you are likely to find. This is also the last work by the band to feature the original vocalist, which is a shame, because as good as the music was on subsequent albums, the voices used on various songs could not match the quality found here. The singer sounds very similar to Adi Newton of Clock DVA to me, which is high praise indeed. The music is well played, and accompanies the vocals with a clear sense of purpose, with lots of nice little flourishes, elevating it above the "put a 4/4 beat and some minor chord progressions behind it and you've got a hit song, baby" type mentality that plauges this particular genre and creates so many records that are hardly distinguishable from each other. It's this sense of meticulous class, well played music with a darker tone, and lyrics that avoid the sugary sweet love song formula that set Phonic Trace far beyond other albums in the field. Now, 15 years after it's release, it still retains a timeless sound, and if you like darker synth pop, it's one that is worth finder, because you will rarely encounter a better album in this genre.