This is a very spacey album. On first listen, it feels like every sound is being blown up from the inside – inflated to its absolute maximum before being allowed to explode all over the sound system. Yet, it never sounds ‘bloated’. In this respect, it calls to mind The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Pyschocandy and Honey’s Dead albums. As with those albums, feedback-drenched guitars build massive sonic skyscrapers for us to explore, which are cut through with a plethora of drill-like drumming. As well as all the waves of crunchy feedback, there’s also a spiky, New Order-ish pop sensibility. Keyboards wave in and out of the guitars, creating a suitably spectral backdrop for the lead singer’s detached, Bernard Sumner-esque vocals. Whereas many debut albums today seem too eager to please, there is a steely confidence in the sound here. Each note is pitched perfectly and every chord jumps out and grabs you by the throat. This album won’t let you forget you are in its presence. It’s almost too hard to believe that this is a debut album. The songs are so tightly fused together, so obviously honed on the live stage that it feels as though these guys have been doing this for ages. It is a universal truism that, for many bands, their debut album is their live set in a studio. These boys and girls have taken note of audience reaction, knowing exactly how to play the songs so that every ounce of emotion and tunefulness is wrung out of them. There is a bunch of killer melodies in this album’s black heart. These guys pay ample homage to Marc Bolan, Kraftwerk and The Velvet Underground. Each of these bands had their own individual sounds, formed from the ashes of others, while also possessing a unique, individual voice of their own. Which is exactly what happens here. There’s neither a note out of place, nor a chord which overstays its welcome. In short, this is aural perfection.
//Jonathan Muirhead