Normally associated with playboys and movie stars, there's a lot more to glamour than gold cigarette holders and art deco mirrored ceilings. The word can trace its roots back further to the darkness of witchcraft and magic, when glamories were a certain kind of spell to transform or disguise. Aleister Crowley claimed to be an expert at rendering himself invisible without ever disappearing - the idea behind glamour is to occlude the senses from registering the true nature of a thing. Patrick Kelleher and His Cold Dead Hands' new album Golden Syrup is a dark and glamorous creation, ten reverberating incantations that are swathed in synths with tipped darts of drum machines puncturing the ether. According to Patrick Kelleher, the lyrics of this album are darker and regressive in comparison to his last record but that sinister tone is for the most part, allayed by beguiling, dancey pop.

Sending out a strong Eighties vibration,Golden Syrup is however more than a mere revisitation of pop's greatest era. For example, the opening track Miracle Candle belongs firmly in the present, its febrile, looping basis keeping a fast and ordered control despite the lightest touch, allowing for Kelleher to sing his parts with a distorted hiccupping echo as Ger Duffy whispers in response. Although there's a sense that this music could be played by one person and lots of gear, It's here in this first song that we hear how much of a band effort has been made, with the guitar, synths, bass and a guest appearance on guitar from Cian Nugent all making the song so much fuller.

The title track Golden Syrup makes an appearance as the second song with a big, steady drum track and wheeling synths that lead to an incongruously cheery, whirr which emphasises rather than counterbalances the haunted tone of Kelleher's voice.

Seen Me Blue is sublime, the first overtly Eighties moment and Patrick Kelleher's vocal leads the rhythms of the song, sounding bold and an exact complement to the downbeat synths. He croons and occasionally allows a big plaintive burst and it sounds like something Molly Ringwald could shred a prom dress to.

Bass is dominant on Too Many Harsh Words, as much as it can wrestle attention from the multitude of layered sounds that range from a screech similar to a rubber sole on a polished corridor to a catchy, hissing chorus hook. The melodic intricacy of Too Many Harsh Words sets up nicely for the fall-off that comes with Broken Up Now, the briefest interlude yet and so light, tender and rasping that it seems at 3.06, to simply sound out as an exhalation before the heavier Gouge kicks its way in. Although its rhythm has a funkier edge, it's a bit bare and repetitive but doesn't come across as a bad song, just a little weaker. Perhaps the heavily-layered sound of previous tracks make its faults stand out a little more.

“What makes this sound?” asks a programmed voice as Contact Sports begins. 'Change' could possibly be the answer - this song was released as a 7” single last year and was the first indication of the sophomore album's new direction that veered so far from the folky electronic pastiche of Kelleher's 2009 debut You Look Cold. It's the next major Eighties tribute, built mainly upon a gorgeous synth melody and extravagant drums. If Seen Me Blue was the shredder track, Contact Sports is the soundtrack section where our protagonist realises the answer to all woes is to just dance.

Strawberry Dog is a strange creature, the intro sounding like an electro afrobeat rhythm set to a thick, chuggy bass, but when the vocal comes in its sweet and almost playful, mirrored by a lovely intuitive synth that sounds just like the work of Catscars' Robyn Bromfield.

Closing these final moments of Golden Syrup are I Don't Remember, the weird throwback to You Look Cold, and Still In School, the softly-climatic finale that's just two minutes long and uses nothing more than guitar and voice to throw off the trappings and majestic disguises of Golden Syrup as a whole to simply sing the swan song. In dispelling the artifice of synths and drumtracks the Cold Dead Hands and their mage Kelleher return to human form, free to return to the world whether they like it or not.