PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project Review

Allow me to utterly discredit myself as a fan of music and let everyone in on a secret.  I’ve never

listened to PJ Harvey before.  I heard Let England Shake was pretty great, but I’ve simply never gotten around to listening to her somewhat impenetrable discography of what is now 9 albums.  Perhaps it’ll be interesting to review the work of such a prolific artist in a vacuum.  Perhaps I’ll stumble through blindly committing indie faux pas and outing myself as a fool.  Only time will tell.

The album starts extremely strongly, with “The Community of Hope”.  The guitar tones are both distorted and grungy, yet possess an uplifting ethereal dreaminess that is absolutely captivating the second it starts bouncing around my ear drums.  The lyrics are wryly observant of a deprived area, tinged with political dissent.  The vocals are intense, commanding and distinctly 90s.  The distortion is amped up on “The Ministry of Defence”, as are the political statements, with lines such as, “This is the ministry of defence, stairs and walls are all that’s left, mortar holes let through the air”.  The tone darkens as the album progresses through “A line in the Sand” and “Chain of Keys”. 

“River Anacostia” opens with soulful harmonising male voices before succumbing to tribal drum beats and Harvey’s absolutely chilling vocal passages.  I felt the quality dipped ever so slightly with “Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln” and “The Orange Monkey”, both songs being perhaps the most forgettable on the album.  It swiftly picks back up on the haunting “Medicinals”, and remains consistently spell-binding through more politically charged angst on “The Ministry of Social Affairs”.  “The Wheel” has an air of classic rock swagger to it, and is kitted out with a driving beat, brass section and fiery guitar solos. 

The final song “Dollar, Dollar” begins with a sample of a busy street that goes on for an aggravatingly long time, before sensuous organ tones float in and out of focus, while Harvey’s vocals pierce through the dreamy haze.  Experimental stabs of either Saxophones or Bassoons enter to complete the odd final songs instrumental. 

If, like me, this is your first time hearing PJ Harvey’s music, I struggle to imagine anything you could find to dislike.  Artfully crafted and genuinely inventive art-rock instrumentals peppered with incisive and intelligent lyrics backed up by commanding vocals.  I recommend you get this album on vinyl.

Charlie McCartney

The Last Shadow Puppets - Everything You've Come to Expect Review

The latest outing from Alex Turner and his sidekick Miles Kane isn’t what I would have expected or wanted around the time Humbug and The Age of the Understatement were being released.  Certainly not from Turner anyway.  While The Age of Understatement was drenched in self-deprecating incisive brilliance, Turners music has progressively become more cringe inducingly tone deaf since the release of AM, an album that I consider to be the low point in his career.

Apologies to the Miles Kane fans if I seem to focusing somewhat on Alex, but judging by the two’s other output, basically everything good about The Last Shadow Puppets is due to the involvement of Turner.  If anything, I tend to blame Kane for this rock star façade he’s adopted, and the absolutely awful music he’s produced as a result of it.  So admittedly, I had fairly low expectations for this new project by the two of them. 

However, having said that, I will admit to having been somewhat pleasantly surprised by the level of self-reflection and insecurity on display in some of these songs.  I don’t know of anyone who wanted Alex Turner to become the exact vacuous rock star he mocked in Fake Tales of San Francisco, but it’s nice to see he’s dropped the lothario rock god image to an extent.  On the title track, Turner sings in a melancholy tone, “I just can’t get the thought of you and him out of my head”, the kind of lyric that wouldn’t be out of place on Suck it and See if were slightly more articulate.  “Element of Surprise” opens with the line, “There’s a set of rickety stairs, in between my heart and my head, and there ain’t much that ever bothers going up them”, lyrics that lend a level of nuance to the kind of self-assured superstar Alex portends to be.  Miles manages to almost derail the album entirely with “Bad Habits” a song with almost know musical or lyrical merit that I can excavate from its rank corpse.  It’s songs like this that make me wonder what Turner sees in Kane, and why he doesn’t just have a solo career writing more albums like Submarine, but I suppose we all have that one friend our mum makes us hang about with. 

For every song that develops a level of depth to Turners clearly very interesting psyche, there are two that involve Miles Kane pretending that being friends with a rock star makes him one too, and singing about “little girls” and doing other weird creepy things he likes to do.  It certainly isn’t a bad record, and it’s an improvement from AM in almost every respect.  But Turner could do so much better alone. 

Charlie McCartney 

The 1975 - I like it when you sleep etc. Review

Perhaps the most efficient way to review this record would be to describe the aspects of it which

aren’t horribly misjudged or insufferably smug.  There are a handful of passable instrumental parts, and whoever made Matt Healy’s vocals sound remotely listenable deserves an award of some kind.  That’s about all I have to say that’s remotely positive about the obnoxiously titled “I Like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it”. 

Opening with what sounds like a choral excerpt from “The Life of Pablo” that was deemed too pretentious for even Kanye, the album is instantly too grandiose for its own good.  Things take a nose dive as the album segues awkwardly into “Love Me”, on which Healy displays his ability to be putrid pretty excellently.  Lines like “you’ve got a beautiful face but nothing to say”, really make you wonder what kind of ego he’s sporting, especially given the subject matter of the song being as hypocritical and desperate as they come.  This latest attempt by a pseudo indie band to tap into the “real music wanker” mentality has managed to even transcend music, and finds Healy railing against just pop-culture in general, in an attempt to make himself seem like the talented and astute outsider, but falls flat in almost every self-satisfied line.  The instrumental for “UGH” doesn’t help his case by being about as basic as pop music comes. 

“A Change of Heart” contains some of the most ham-fisted and jarringly awkward lyricism I’ve ever heard.  “Was it your breasts from the start?  They played a part.”  Smooth Healy.  Smooth.  He later seemingly justifies a break up with the line, “You used to have, a face straight out of a magazine, now you just look like anyone.”  “She’s American” has a pretty infectious groove to it, and is actually probably the highlight of the album, given that the lyrics are basically functional.  Healy’s vocals are slightly grating at times, but that’s essentially unavoidable.

For the most part, my issues with the album lie as much in the pseudo visionary instrumentals as the lyrics.  “Please be naked” is one such piece of drawling ambient pop that leave the album feeling bloated and more than a bit pompous.  “Lostmyhead” may as well fall into this category as well given the lack of remotely interesting or substantial lyrics. 

In fact, the approach to every song past the halfway point on this album seems to have been how can it be made as needlessly long and bland as possible.  “Somebody Else” and the title track are as meandering and directionless as any pop song I’ve heard this year, and the former has some of that classic Healy narcissism.  Things get somewhat back on track with another of the passable songs “The Sound”, on which the catchy instrumental does just enough to hold my attention until the end of the album, despite the closing end being as dreadful as the beginning.

If the laughable sexual posturing of their debut wasn’t for you, then, like me, you probably don’t need any more reason to dislike this band.  If you totally bought that Matt Healy was an androgynous sex icon, then stop reading this review and go away.  I’m surprised you’re even still here.

Charlie McCartney

Harry Young - Pretty Girls

‘Pretty Girls’, as the name suggests, deals with the cliché of popular music. If it’s not breakups or longing for someone you can’t have – It’s the vacuous personality of the horde of girls you have had. This cliché isn’t necessarily something I’d advise songwriters to steer clear from because the subject matter usually comes from at least some level of personal experience but it is something that risks being lost in a turbulent sea of obscurity. Harry Young, however, has constructed a genuinely interesting piece from the opening jaunty, plucked acoustic guitar to the pleasantly surprising introduction of a melodic guitar accompaniment just after the two minute mark.

I was fairly disappointed that there were no ‘stand-out’ lyrics to really analyse as this makes it difficult to work out how personal the song is to the artist. A song that’s lyrics allow every listener to substitute themselves in place of the artist may be a commercial dream but it can come at the cost of real personal input from the songwriter; and the song in this case has quite heavily succumb to this possibility.

The merit of this song comes largely from the instrumentation. It’s a fairly simple arrangement but less is more when, like Harry Young, you can consolidate all the elements together in such a tight fashion. The lead guitar following the melody of the vocals in the latter half of the song is reason enough to disregard any of the doubts you may have had up till this point. The repeating of “Make it stop…” simplifies the lyrics so the listener can appreciate the guitar at this point; a sensible move, as counterintuitive as it may seem to simplify an element while trying to convey your talent this shows an awareness uncommon in young artists.  One time where Young’s awareness does seem to lapse, however, is after the volume of the lyrics builds and the melodic lead guitar cuts he, for some reason, decides to utilise Gregorian chanting-esque vocals on the “Hold on me” lyric. I’m not sure my experience in reviewing equips me to critique this genre but I will say that it just seemed out of placed and changed the pace of the song too much to transition to, or from, smoothly.

This is only Young’s debut single so there is no album for me to recommend as of yet. I do, however, recommend you stream this song from his Soundcloud linked below. Hopefully an album appears soon, as for better or worse he seems at least able to experiment with various techniques giving him promise as an emerging artist.

Nathan Beck

https://soundcloud.com/harry-young-7

Pure Youth - New November

London based four- piece ‘Pure Youth’ have had one of the most favourable beginnings I’ve seen from recent bands. Formed in late 2014 most would still be finding their feet and most likely a sound that suits them. Pure Youth however undertook a mammoth task in dropping their, when formed non-existent, debut EP only two months later. The EP constructs a reasonably varied theme of indie tunes: some are unable to keep their head above water amongst the plethora of new indie music available to us today whilst others like ‘New November’ and especially ‘I Just Wanted You to Know’ are genuinely deserving of a place on the indie world stage which as mentioned would require beating out an unfathomable volume of competition. Their most popular track by far is their recent release ‘I’m Not Yours’ racking up an impressive 170,000 views across their Soundcloud and Spotify accounts earning them a place on Spotify’s ‘New Music Friday’, no doubt aided by their association with some larger acts brought on due to the release in the first place.

Described as Indie-Rock/synth-pop they quite heavily relay the former genre in their material which is unfortunate as there’s only so far indie-rock can propel you. In their single ‘New November’ they make more use of their latter classification giving them an extra ingredient in their music which allows them to tune it to a more complex ear whilst still being an accessible candidate for mainstream radio-play. This track has a groove to it that simply eludes the common indie band, it is this deviation from the traditional four-piece that makes Pure Youth a band of note. They haven’t yet released much material but have more than filled their expected quota for the short time they’ve been on the scene. I look forward to their future releases which I hope embrace the elements that have complimented their Indie-Rock base as they will be all the better for it.

Pure Youth have gained enough recognition that they’ve expanded their portfolio and visually complimented their track ‘New November’ with a music video which you can view at the link provided. I’d advise you visit Soundcloud or Spotify and check out what little material they have – my two songs of note are ‘New November’ and ‘I Just Wanted You to Know’.

Nathan Beck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUqaryqw5Ss

The 1975 - Love Me & UGH - Track Reviews

The 1975 arrived in 2013 under the perfect storm with anything else almost surely not allowing their perplexing popularity to take place. The British public had decided that after four albums of game-changing, lyrically dexterous and truly dynamic Artic Monkeys records that the one that would spiral them into being the biggest British band since Oasis was…AM. Despite lacking everything that made the first four Arctic Monkeys albums great, the lyrics, rhythms and (most importanty) the grounded subject matter that allowed many to empathise and sympathise with them AM towered above these albums in terms of popularity. On the coattails of the Arctic Monkeys infatuation with being from anywhere but Britain came the 1975, clad in the same leather and having even less of the lyrical and musical ability of the boys from San FranSheffield. A strange universe that allows this to be the case is also the same universe in which the 1975 can become popular. 

The 1975’s main conversation point is sex. It’s the title of their first EP and the subject matter of pretty much the entirety of their first album. And like a teenager in a 90s chick flick I don’t think I believe it. That was always the main problem with the 1975 for me. They just sound like pure bullshitters and their songs blatantly aren’t that sexy. 

This opinion was not the minority and the 1975 were one of the critical jokes of the year. Even places that saw AM as genius saw through their weak spectacle. Yet the 1975 are back and their first single, Love Me, received praise from many of the establishments which had shunned them.

And as easy as it is to criticise them it is hard to disagree why. Musically this song is catchy, infectious and properly good. This is proper radio material, from its first instant those chords and hooks grab your attention and they are good for it the whole way through. Even the chorus has a groove to it that is undeniable and great. 

However, the message of this song is so cheap, lazy and abysmal that the first time you look at the lyrics or especially, when you view the video which is one of the most shameless attention grabbing things I’ve seen all year you are forced to view the song for what it is. The 1975 trying to get back into everyone’s good books by bashing the easiest targets in the world, popular music. This is not a new tactic with people like Jake Bugg, Catfish and the Bottlemen and most especially Oasis making a career out of appealing to the kind of people that are actually angered when someone listens to pop music. For this reason and this reason alone I cannot recommend this song as this practise is laughable and every band which tries and fuels the “popular music is terrible” cliché needs to have a long hard look at themselves, especially a band which exist only on the back of one of the biggest popular bands in Britain.

The second single from The 1975 on this record does again enter new territory and admitting that they aren’t actually sex gods with lyrics like “I don't have the capacity for fucking” showing that The 1975 do have a bit of self awareness. The rest of the song adds little. Although again some of the musical elements please, especially the electronic blips at the beginning but the song’s story doesn’t interest me at all and they show again for the second time a lyrical weakness. Musically however this song does prove that whoever is making up these riffs and beats actually does have a lot of talent and I can genuinely see The 1975 growing up into being a genuinely good band.

For now though they will be lucky to gain the same knee jerk applause that people like NME get whenever a band has something negative to say about pop and this album will likely come and go with The 1975 continuing to be that band your sister likes.

Don’t bother. Really.

Dominic Allan.

Fallen Arches - Footprints EP Review

Fallen Arches is a solo project by fresh face Colin Bell. He appears out of the ashes of previous three piece outfit Sneaky Pete and from a brief glimpse at their work his solo project is more revision than revolution. The synth groove beats of his previous project have been mutated however, into more uplifting indie rock. Throughout the EP his distinctive Scottish voice firmly channels fellow countrymen like Snow Patrol and Twin Atlantic to develop an admittedly highly derivative lyrical sound. This sound can appear grating to many people but looking past it there is still a lot to admire.

The production and instrumentation included in this EP are really excellent. The little orchestral and piano elements again seemingly harken back to Snow Patrol and Coldplay in their big worldly pieces that feel massive, yet retain modesty and never veers into vain, elaborate self-congratulation. As musical pieces they sweep you up somewhat and even with the bane of modern pop rock, the acoustic guitar, being fully utilised this still leaves the instrumentation being sometimes very impressive.

My particular favourite track is probably "Footprints" with its cute piano piece which is highly, almost hopelessly optimistic which I think carries on through the theme of the song. Its choral outro also leaps out and wouldn’t be out of place with a crowd being the choir.

Despite this the main fault of the EP that is apparent throughout is the lyricism. It is to be honest pretty shockingly bad throughout. It is a shame really, in that it takes away so much from the nice instrumentation that is on show. It makes it really hard to recommend this EP as the lyrics do not feel like a forgotten part of the piece that aren’t to be harshly criticised but feel more like an integral part of the music that Bell is deeply affected by. This is why it is even more unfortunate that it went as wrong as it did on this record.

Even with the rather terrible lyrics, the instrumentations shines through and with every note written I can see Colin Bell and the Fallen Arches project growing in strength. I would be lying to say I recommend this EP fully though and would advise you to listen with trepidation.

Dominic Allan

Bill Ryder-Jones - West Kirby County Primary Review

Being the lesser known co-founder of one of Britain’s most average indie bands isn’t the kind of resume that raises expectations.  Coupled with the recent lacklustre return of old friends of the band, the Libertines, and less recent, even more atrocious efforts from touring partners the Arctic Monkeys, expectation becomes fear.  However, I won’t pretend to have listened to any of his other albums, so I came into “West Kirby County Primary” with a modicum of hope. 

The opener “Tell Me you Don’t Love Me Watching” couldn’t really have split my opinion more completely.  On one side of this cerebral schism lay the obvious seedy undertone to the main refrain “Just look at the things that you’re wearing, and tell me you don’t love me watching”.  However, and more incredibly, the genuine affection in Ryder-Jones’ performance is enough to convey that the songs muse is someone that he absolutely loves, in an honest and charming way.  

The album is certainly at its best when stripped of the pretence of indifference that plagues too much of indie music.  On the Jesus and Mary Chain inspired “Let’s Get Away From Here” Ryder-Jones sings “If something breaks your heart then I would know, yeah I should know”, and once again brings to the foray a euphoric sense of adoration that carries onto “Daniel”.  The upbeat moments are no less intimate in their subject matter.  

The sunny jangle pop of “Wild Roses” and “You Can’t Hide a Light with the Dark” give the album an accessible edge.  There certainly isn’t anything being revolutionised anywhere on the album.  Every chord change is predictable, every guitar tone recycled.  But it succeeds in what it sets out to do.

Perhaps if The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys stopped trying so desperately to sound smart and cool respectively, they’d learn something from Bill Ryder-Jones ability to openly convey his own, unaltered feelings in succinct, clever witticisms.  I recommend streaming this album if you’re a fan of mellow indie guitar music.

Charlie McCartney

Bloc Party - The Love Within (track review)

Bloc Party have always been at their best when embracing the electronic elements of alternative dance.  So upon hearing the gradual build of the seething synthesizer bass and kick drum on “The Love Within”, I was instantly reminded of the fast pace and intensity of Intimacy, my favourite album of theirs.  

However this song is, for the most part, uninspired, lazy and generic.  The stripped back instrumental could’ve been an interesting approach to production but the lack of sounds on display leaves the first half of the song feeling shallow and lifeless.  The bass guitar and impassioned vocals salvage some level of thrill in the chorus, as the instruments finally surge and build to a point where they carry some level of impact.

I would say this is one of the weaker songs in the Bloc Party discography, and I hope the upcoming album is far better.  I can’t recommend that you listen to the song unfortunately.

Charlie McCartney

The Libertines - Anthems for Doomed Youth Review

The context of this album is perhaps as important as any of the actual music. That context is of course the Libertines legacy up until this point, which I would describe without a modicum of irony or sarcasm as the most romantic, yet tragic, in recent British indie music. It was comparable to a fire work display, an explosion of heat and light, eventually extinguished by its own uncontrollable energy.

 Add to this the single released by Pete Doherty earlier this year 'Flags of the old Regime', a contemplative ballad dedicated to the late Amy Winehouse, an unfortunate victim of the kind of lifestyle Doherty bemoans in the lyrics. It's melancholy, truly thought provoking and an insight into the mind of a man with intense inner turmoil. It questions the mentality of youth distorted and poisoned by fame and drugs, the destruction of relationships and friendships, and it's exactly the kind of material the Libertines should be producing.

 Which is why it pains me to say that the Libertines have missed a significant opportunity to allow their music to develop or reflect a more mature approaches to song writing and life in general. The album name suggested this would be the predominant theme, 'Anthems for Doomed Youth', and in all honesty the title track isn't substandard by any means. While fairly simple instrumentally, the lyrics seem completely irrelevant at times. Bar, of course, the strangely knowing lyrics 'they thought that they were brothers, then they half murdered each other, they started karaoke and murdered half their songs'. Whether this was an unkind insight into the reunion as a whole of another off hand rhyming couplet is something I can't speculate one, but this song could have been so much more enhanced and astute.

 The first single 'Gunga Din' seems to almost revel in the kind of substance abuse that has damaged them and their loved ones so much. It's ska inspired riff is simply too slow to be exciting and and the lyrics are actually particularly awful at times. 'Im going to write, because I've got the right' is clunky, badly written and so far below the standard Pete and Carl are capable of.

 The classic Libertines fire and affection is present on several songs however, the latter on 'You're my Waterloo', unsurprisingly as it's one of the most aged songs on the album, and the former on 'Glasgow Coma Scale Blues'. The highlight for me being the catchy and irresistibly Babyshambles-esque 'Heart of the Matter'. But these songs can't salvage an album that feels like the Libertines are just too tired to yell or swear the way they used to. 

 The album is perfectly functional, at times even particularly heartfelt, but I can't say I'm not disappointed by the lack of insight and thought provoking lyrical or thematic content. When this is coupled with an aging weariness looming over the entire project the result is the equivalent of being dragged back to the firework display over a decade later to stare at the burnt out husks.

 I can't recommend you buy the album, but it is worth listening to, even if you just stream it.

Charlie McCartney

The View - Ropewalk Review

Why did it have to be this way? The View enter their fifth album with dangerously low expectations. On the studio front they have been anonymous since their horrid sophomore effort "Which Bitch?" and yet this latest release "Ropewalk" is somehow their fifth time entering the studio.The reasoning behind this albums existence is highly questionable with the likeliest answer being an excuse to tour again. Yes, the View despite being total failures for nearly a decade somehow still manage to sell out gigs in their home nation Scotland with ease. They must set the record for the quickest time for a group to turn into a legacy band. The View have to take most of the blame for this, offering nothing new in this time period to indicate that they are anything more than the band that made "Same Jeans", and this latest half arsed effort takes things to downright cringeworthy lows. The highest praise that can be given to songs on this album is averageness. The introduction of Strokes supremo Albert Hammond Jnr has done little to increase the value of this album however this should have been obvious already by AHJ's deeply average solo material. "Under the rug" the albums first track its probably the best song on the album, its guitars have some nice distortion and Falconer's vocals are bearable. It is a fairly solid pop rock single and could be likened to a pretty bad One Republic album track. Next comes "Marriage"... Marriage was the first song released from this album and it has left a wave of stink wherever it goes,even the biggest of View fans can't argue that this track is absolutely horrific. Its riffs are so shallow and depressing, the production is rotten, Falconer sounds demented and the lyrics are the work of a songwriter that has very clearly lost his way. The "story" of the song is shredded and grinded and squished to fit into its laughable excuse of a chorus, a gift to the people that are unfortunate enough to see this song performed live in that it's easy to sing along too if you can hold back laughter. Who knows what the combination of failures were that turned this song from one that should never have been released to the lead single of their album. Many of the other songs on this album sink into mediocrity and are barely worth talking about. The tired, dated riffs are complemented by the shockingly bad lyrics and voice of Kyle Falconer. Seriously what happened to his voice? From the almost angelic serenades of "face for the radio" to some of the snarling truly abhorrent voals on this albums track “Penny.” This song hits like a brick to the temple...in that it leaves you with permanent brain damage. It also features one of the staples of an indie band starving for attention and innovation with it changing up tempos and blasting into choruses at seemingly random moments. Funnily enough however this fails massively with the View not being the first band to manage to subvert musical sequences that have been around for millennia. Most of the rest of the album is mild, dreary, bullshit that leaves a poor state, the first time the band have come close to changing their sound they replace it with the scrags left over from Twin Atlantic with a lot of the album sounding like a poor rendition of their also pretty terrible sound. No one should listen to this, I feel for everyone that has had to listen to this so far and I can be glad in saying that at the very least not many people will hear it as its gonna disappear extremely quickly. With any luck so will The View.

Dominic Allan

Foals - What Went Down Review

Foals are the latest (and possibly already surpassed) holders of the dubious title of “next big thing in British Rock Music” however in many ways they subvert the typical adages of this accolade. Unlike previous holders like Oasis, The Libertines and the Arctic Monkeys they are yet to really reach some form of mainstream success and are yet to clock a number one album. Their latest release “What Went Down” is seen by many as their biggest shot of reaching these heights.

Their brand of massive riffs with lyrics that are almost hollered at the listener have improved with each current album and with their fourth release “What Went Down” there is for the first time an almost interchangeable sound to the previous outing “Holy Fire.”

The first single also titled “What Went Down” is a highly disappointing way to start the album. The main body of the song grows tired almost immediately and the song offers little to no respite from the uninspiring lyrics and energetic yet drab rhythms. It is immediately followed on the album by the second single “Mountain at my Gates” which is a big improvement with a far more interesting guitar riff and a more complex theme that leaves a far more satisfying feeling. The songs progression is to be particularly lauded for complimenting the songs aesthetics and being highly danceable however in the end it is still rather forgettable.

The first two songs on this record seem to make Foals message incredibly clear - “We are here to be big and loud” with the sort of songs that seem specifically made for the festival headline sets that many expect Foals to be making very soon. This however is not the case.

As the album enters further on and perhaps some of the pressure of big singles and singalong choruses are removed from their heads the band is given room to breathe and explore some of the influences and melodies which have always been present and highly unappreciated in their music. In songs like “Birch Tree” and “Give it all” the band really shine with far more invention on show. In particular the drop in Give it All show a far more interesting way to introduce the huge sound Foals are adept at creating. The minutes long build up makes the drop feel far sweeter and packs a hearty punch.

However the highlight of the album is the tight “Night Swimmers.” For me it evokes a sense of fun that is little seen elsewhere on the album with its high adrenaline making for a sound reminiscent of Foals best work in Spanish Sahara.

Its not quite the step into super stardom many would have expected from Foals and with its forgettable singles it may struggle to be the success it was tipped for but there really is some excellent material in this album and Foals still show off their technical ability on a number of occasions.

It is certainly worth a stream for everyone and for fans of previous Foals records and other fans of tight well put together indie rock it may be worth a download.  

Dominic Allan