Monaco Echoes Old Sounds of New Order

Sometimes an artist just can’t shake the shadow of an illustrious past. That seems to be the problem with Peter Hook, the former bassist for the pivotal British groups New Order and Joy Division, who played the El Rey Theater on Tuesday with his new outfit, Monaco.

A founding father of post-punk synth-rock with New Order, Hook helped weave punk, disco and new wave around themes of unrequited desire and disillusionment.

Unfortunately, Monaco--which is also fronted by singer and guitarist David Potts--didn’t bring enough of its own stamp to the music to push the show beyond a nostalgic showcase for past innovations.

As the group played songs from its new album, “Music for Pleasure,” it delivered such aching, New Order-like lines as “You’ve taken my life away / ruining everything” against a background of Hook’s familiar bass lines. The rest of the short, no-nonsense set moved from danceable house music to pop sounds, from the “sha-la-la” chorus of “What Do You Want From Me?” to the Beatle-esque and Squeeze-like “Buzz-Gum.”

Sadly, none of the bright flourishes nor Hook’s songs about love and loss carried enough of an individual identity to make Monaco stand out as an act to watch--unless you’re an old New Order fan.