You’ve really got to hand it to And One’s Steve Naghavi. After all, the man has made a career out of basically rewriting and re-releasing the same three or four songs every year for the last decade and a half. Like the music industry’s most prolific remixer, Naghavi has navigated these waters so often he knows his own songs like the back of his hand. Of course, this also means he understands precisely which sound to tweak, which melody to pitch up or down and the exact range of each required cutoff sweep to exercise in the pursuit of re-perfection.

If other prominent electronic acts like Covenant, Apoptygma Berzerk and VNV Nation may be accused of sacrilege by their fans for the evolution of their sound, then these same fans must view And One as the Holy Grail of continuity and conviction. Naghavi clearly holds dear a very particular sound palette, one which he’s trained himself to wield like an expert painter, each swish of his brush creating broad strokes of vivid, vibrant color. The keyboard is Naghavi’s canvas, new romanticism his muse.

Over the years, Naghavi has surfed the waves of musical trends, effortlessly gliding from Depeche Mode-derivative synthpop to Syntec-styled EBM to hipster electroclash, each time not so much reinventing himself, but revalidating his work. While progress may be inevitable, it is not necessarily always unquestionable. In Naghavi’s case, the similarity of his work is more than just not fixing what isn’t broken; it’s a commitment to excellence in one’s field of work, however specialized it may be.

The Frontfeuer EP follows on the band’s latest full length, Bodypop, finally released earlier this year after a three year silence from the band. Both releases find Naghavi completely at ease in his craft, creating untouchable pop gems with an efficiency that is the envy of every artist out there. They may not appreciate the fruits of his labor, but the way in which his compositions seem to flow so easily and effortlessly from his fingertips gives the impression that Naghavi could do this stuff in his sleep. Each of the extended play’s five tracks could top club charts tomorrow without batting an eye... and that’s great work, if you can find it. Welcome back.