Their album was finished donkeys ages ago, but given the postponement of its release until 2008 the band put together an EP of new material (yes, things are now officially being released heavily out of sequence) that they recorded and produced themselves at the drummer’s house – and to be frank, it makes you wonder why they ever bother involving big shot recording types because the production on these three tracks sounds faultless.
But from the dreamy, trippy swathes of ‘Calm’ (think Justin Timberlake’s ‘Lovestoned’) to the techno-ish synths on ‘I Want To Know What Dub Is’ via the baroque-ish ones on ‘Handbook For The Recently Deceased Part 2’, this is not exactly what any Drive By Argument fan expected. And for some, it may be a bit too much of a departure from their usually pretty direct emo-meets-disco-at-a-rock-concert sound. But for new ears and for those who can cope with a band growing pretty fast, these three tracks seem to mark the beginning of a whole new chapter of exciting new music from the Ayrshire quintet.
