To all intents and purposes, Cancel The Astronauts disappeared after the release of their fine debut album, ‘Animal Love Match’ in 2012. Before they started posting demos Bandcamp in 2018, the only suggestion that they still existed was the odd Facebook post.
Yet completely out of the blue, with no fanfare and no live shows, the band announced the release of second album ‘What The Noise Is For’ in June. Whatever else, they certainly can’t be accused of making the mistake of rushing their sophomore effort!
The final running order for ‘What The Noise Is For’ was whittled down from a massive 28 songs and that level of choice suggests a good level of quality control. The end result bears that out.
The big change since the debut is that the 80s indebted synths, which leant an often-deceptive gloss to some of Matthew Riley’s dark lyrics, are largely absent .
Instead, it’s the guitars that now carry the vast bulk of the instrumental melodies giving the album a leaner, more direct approach.
It would be easy to focus on grunge juggernaut ‘Prospector’ with its heavy riffing and its electrifying lead and conclude that the record is a radical departure from what’s gone before. But, live with the tunes for a few plays and it becomes clear the band’s long terms melodic strengths have simply been refocused.
Songs like ‘Do It With A Knife’, ‘Proximity’ and the title track convey a breath-taking, runaway exuberance. Even when the pace drops (slightly) on the likes of ‘Caves’ there’s still a magnificent momentum to the tunes whilst opener ‘Self Shot’ recreates the vibe of the first album with its restrained introduction and explosive chorus.
Whilst, keyboards aren’t entirely absent they’re usually piano rather than synths and are largely used to colour the songs with different textures. For example, ‘Be Fast’ (originally played live by the five piece) is part post-rock and part power ballad, with the guitars enhanced rather than outshone by the piano.
The one call-back to the sound of the debut is ‘Glasgow Coma Scale’ with the chorus deriving much of its energy from a frantic synth driven hook.
The tension is partly released towards the end of the record with the penultimate ‘Not A Soldier’, an epic ballad, which gives way to reflective closer ‘Solid State Creep’.
Ultimately, despite the lengthy gap between records, ‘What The Noise Is For’ does what all good follow-ups do –it builds on the strengths of the debut but critically adds something new.
And it’s every bit as thrilling, as it is unexpected. Seek it out.
‘What The Noise Is For’ is available now from the CTA Bandcamp on download and CD.
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