When the Damn Shames started out, they had a drummer. Now they don’t. And this seems to have resulted in a magical transformation from endearingly sloppy, shuffly indie – like the timid, Middle Class Edinburgh equivalent of The View – to a crazy, untamable dance beast, guitars succumbing to the pulse of the drum machine. At least, that’s how things go down on opening track ‘Fear of Assault’, which almost sounds like a remix of the Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Brianstorm’. ‘Last Things’ is less surprising – in fact, I’m pretty sure those are real drums for a start. It’s a pleasant little indie pop song that would place them somewhere between Goodbooks and Good Shoes in a music collection sorted by genre.
