SHear's four song EP, Remember, is a sparse and darkly moody duet of Robert Cheatham's synth effects and Monika Weiss's clear alto vocals melding together like a soundtrack to an obscure French vampire movie. Remember lands somewhere between trip-hop and ambient, being neither layered with samples and tricky beats nor smooth and noncommittal enough to be relegated to the background. Like Portishead and their many clones, SHear contrasts the cold, soulless electronics with a warm and lovely human voice, yet the group manages to maintain a feeling of improvisation instead of the obsessive soundbite tinkering that electronica is heir to. Opening track, bwe thought that the synthesizer would eclipse the old regime of guitars and drums, and we listened to bands like Spandeau Ballet as if our lives depended on it. Unfortunately, the trend didn't last and after it was over we wallowed in music as lo-fi and ugly as we could manage. SHear seems to signal that some of us are ready for the synthesizer to be a respectable instrument again.