I never went to my high school prom night; I went to a gig instead (well since you asked, Pavement actually. A hipster, even at high school) so I never had the chance to bop and slow dance with Molly Ringwald. Ok, it wasn’t the 1980s and Molly didn’t go to my high school but when I think of proms, my mind immediately goes to that period: John Hughes movies, synthpop, Psychedelic Furs and Molly. If Brooklyn’s Elizabeth Harper, the woman behind Class Actress, was making music back then I’d expect to be dancing the night away to most of her debut album Rapprocher. A gleaming, pristine record of electronic pop music, it variously calls to mind Madonna and 80s British acts like Yazoo and Human League, but the production and layers of sound also bracket it alongside fellow 80s revivalists Chairlift, Glass Candy and even someone like Memory Tapes, a label mate of Harper’s at Carpark Records.

It’s a bit cheap and easy to compare Class Actress to early Madonna (or even Vogue-era Madge, if you’ve seen press shots of Ms Harper) or any Martin Rushent-produced band you’d care to name, but it’s true to say you can’t escape the sound of the 1980s for the running time of Rapprocher. Opening track ‘Keep You’ sets the tone for the record, with pulsating synths and a staccato drum machine beat and Harper asking “Can I get a break here, just give me what I want / how long we gonna take here, to tell you what I want / do you wanna call me, do you want it (I want it), do you want it all?” before revealing what she wants is to “keep you in my heart”. It’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship, but is there too much passion there already? Harper’s soaring voice on the chorus is pure exhilaration, matching the euphoria of the electronics surrounding her, but other songs on the record do show the relationship might not be lasting too long…

‘Love Me Like You Used To’ is a tale of breakups and making the same mistakes over and over again, and begins with a rather morose verse before breaking into a giddy chorus, with Harper pleading the title again and again. ‘Weekend’ delves deep into the Human League’s back catalogue and comes up with a killer tune, and quite possibly the album’s high point. While ‘Don’t You Want Me’ synths burble low in the background, Harper croons seductively “you make me late for work, you make me late for church” and later, “why you gotta make it so hard for me?” as she waits for the weekend to finally arrive, and she can be as free and easy with her fella as she likes.

Harper is as much at home on the slow burners as the upbeat songs, as the slow-dance ‘Prove Me’, errrm, proves. Her breathy vocals make it a sultry experience, and this lights-down-low mood is extended by the Depeche Mode-stylings of ‘Need to Know’ which takes us on a trip through some seedy European clubs.

Things don’t always click as they should, and there’s a minor mid-record blip that begins with the cheese of ‘Limo’ and ‘All the Saints’, but is pulled round with the propulsive Gallic pop of ‘Bienvenue’ – a partner to Ladyhawke’s ‘Paris is Burning’ – and the dark regret of ‘Missed’, a tale in which Harper warns her paramour that he’s making a big mistake. The record ends in stark contrast to the euphoric opening tracks with ‘Hanging On’ recalling passionate encounters with an ex-lover, and ‘Let Me In’ closing in a darkly romantic fashion, with Harper’s gorgeously velvet vocals combining with icy electro to cover the song in sadness – yet there’s hope with, Harper singing that she’s “never going to give up”. It’s ambiguous though; is it out of romantic love, or is there something more sinister underneath?

With Rapprocher, Class Actress manage to pull this full length debut away from being nothing more than an exercise in retro or an indulgent pastiche. While it does take me back to that imaginary high school prom that I never had, it’s also very much a 21st century pop record. Sure, we had a great time at the dance, but rather than getting picked up by our parents in the family estate car we’re going home to see if anyone’s uploaded the night’s best moments to some social network site. They have, and we can remember that picture where we were dancing together, because it was Class Actress that was playing – and we very much enjoyed it.