Wunderhorse - "Midas" (2024)

Wunderhorse's growth has been quite the slowburn since the release of their debut, 2022's Cub. It seemed to go under the radar for me - I don't think I checked it out until months after release when one of the songs cropped up on my TikTok fyp and peaked my interest. The band's style was very much an homage to 90's alt rock and grunge. And while there was a handful of really great songs on the record, overall it felt rather derivative - so many of the moments felt like imitations of Nirvana and The Bends in particular. Midas is an interesting follow-up, as it sticks to its guns on the aesthetic choices (there is very little growth in that regard) but pairs it with a crop of better written tunes that really play to the bands strengths.

The biggest strength being frontman Jacob Slater's passionate and powerful vocal delivery, and raw and heartaching lyrics. In typical grunge fashion, Slater switches up between a gruff howl and and a hushed, lowkey drawl with song topics dealing with loss, depression and trauma quite starkly and upfront. To use the Nirvana comparison again, the way Slater writes about these topics captures that same intoxicating darkness that Kurt Cobain did so well. Tracks like Superman and July really make your heart wrench.

The songwriting has also improved, the tracks are sharper and the hooks catchier. The record runs at a breakneck pace - being 40 minutes with nearly 9 of those taken up by the closer. The album opens with the title track, a super punchy two and a half minute banger before leading into the much moodier and sinister Rain. The layers of jangly guitar build up to a massive crescendo. The mid-paced riffs and anthemic chorus of Silver are matched with quite a dynamic mix which in places leaves loads of space for the chugging rhythm section, but in others is overwhelmed by the reverb-y lead guitars and Slater's vocals.

The midpoint of the record is marked by the 1-2 punch of the aforementioned Superman and July. Superman is the first time the record really slows it down for quite a harrowing acoustic ballad. The song details the dissociation and suicidal ideation that can be brought on by depression. Slater details being in an office block, looking out of the window - daydreaming about either jumping or flying. The lyrics are left deliberately vague, allowing the imagery about becoming Superman to really sink in. The simplicity of the sing is commanding and quite haunting. July, on the other hand is the heaviest and loudest song on the album. The sludgy riffs and shout / screamed vocals recall the heavier side of grunge of the likes of Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. The song has some pretty violent imagery around drug addiction and seizures, with Slater howling "I'm ready to die" over and over on the chorus.

Not everything is quite as exciting. The vocals on Emily veer a little too close to a Cobain impression for my liking, and the instrumental is a pretty standard post-grunge affair. Arizona also feels a little flat and by the book. The back end of the record is fine although feels a little underwhelming after July. Cathedrals and Girl sort of just breeze past. Again the lyrics and vocal performance are solid, although musically they feel quite dime a dozen 90s alt rock. I do quite enjoy the closer, Aeroplane. It is another slow jam with some great lyrics comparing Slater's mental state to having a grounded aeroplane stuck in his garden. But the song is nearly 9 minutes long and it really doesn't do anything to justify that length.

Midas is certainly a step up from Cub, and has a pretty solid baseline of quality. However it does still feel a touch derivative in places - staying firmly in the 90s alt rock aesthetics and doesn't do anything novel or new with the genre. It scratches a certain itch, and is a good time while it does - so I would still recommend to anyone who has a soft spot for that era of rock music.

Top Tracks: Midas, Rain, Silver, Superman, July

7/10

Fontaines D.C. - "Romance" (2024)

Fontaines D.C.'s popularity has exploded since the release of their third record, 2022's Skinty Fia, mainly off the back of that album's stellar singles. While I was initially not as hot on it as I was it's predecessor, A Hero's Death, I have grown to love the heavy, thick atmosphere of those songs and it is certainly the group's deepest and most thought out work on the lyrical front. So the pressure has been on the band to follow it up with something monumental.

And the lead single to this record, Starburster, is exactly that. It is a volatile cocktail of a clattering, industrial drumbeat, piercing trip-hoppy synth stabs, a crunchy and meaty guitar line and Grain Chatten's hypnotic, unnearving semi-rapped vocals. The whole track is captivatingly unhinged with breathy vocal inflections and guttural gag noises interspersing each line of the chorus. The band have been selling the record as something forward looking and futuristic, and Starburster certainly is that. It's so rare to hear a song that is so fresh and edgy, yet so catchy and sticky. Radio 1 have been playing it loads since its release, and I don't recall ever hearing a Fontaines track on there before.

Unfortunately the rest of Romance doesn't really match the band's description of it. Rather than a bold new step into the unknown, it's more a pivot from the post-punk and gothic rock of the past three records into more commercial 90's and early 00's alt rock and indie rock. Not that the album is by any means bad, but I do feel slightly disappointed after the promise and hype of Starburster. The second single and closer, Favourite, epitomises this. The song is a beautiful jangle pop tune, reminiscent of pop-era Cure, James, The La's ect. The song is cathartically bittersweet, and hits that nostalgic vibe perfectly, but forward looking it is not.

The following singles released have double down on the more commercial-friendly stylings and songwriting. I like the scratchy and noisy grunge aesthetics of Here's The Thing, but it is definitely the most direct chorus the group has ever written. The way it also launches straight into the first chorus makes it feel like the track has been chopped up and arranged for American rock radio and to trend on Tik Tok. Similarly, In The Modern World comes across as very run of the mill string-laden alt rock ballad to me. It's perfectly acceptable but feels very done before, and its themes of social disconnect and lack of sense of belonging feel quite basic and thinly sketched compared to when the band has tackled these ideas in the past. These two songs aren't bad, but you can feel the band shifting their focus from people listening to and contemplating their ideas in private to crowds at festivals and arenas (and if that is the case, it has certainly worked - I saw the band live at a release show and these two songs got a great reaction from the crowd).

There is one other moment that feels tailored for festival fields, and that is the midpoint track, Bug. The song has these hollow, jangly guitars and driving rhythm section that gives the song a very Britpop feel to it, alongside a great set of lyrics about a mismatched relationship where Grian can't seem to fully commit to or take responsibility for himself in. However, the song features literally only two simple vocal melodies for it's entire runtime - one for the verse and one for the chorus. The sheer melodic simplicity and repetitiveness drags down a song that I otherwise really like from an arrangement and production side of things.

Luckily the rest of the album feels like more or less classic Fontaines (if yet again not the revolution of rock promised by Starburster). The opening title track feels like an evolution of the gothic rock of AHD and Skinty Fia, with the drama amped up with these eerie, plinky-plonky mellotron lines and stabs of thunderous bass. Desire is the same kind of string laded alt-rock slow burn as In The Modern World, but has a much more interesting set of lyrics and progression to it. The song slowly flourishes from this bare, skeletal form into a lush, dramatic piece. Motorcycle Boy and Horseness Is The Whatness feel the most in keeping with the band's past output. Motorcycle Boy is a solid post-punk slowburn, if somewhat redundant after 3 albums of the band playing in that space. Horseness Is The Whatness is this record's simple stripped back ballad akin to the likes of Sunny and Couple Across The Way ect. However, this time the format is mixed up by this clattering percussion that is initially set way off in the back of the mix and is super quiet; but slowly grows to encompass and overwhelm the tune by the end. It creates such a tense and eerie atmosphere that I really like.

That leaves Sundowner and Death Kink as the two tracks I've yet to mention, and I think they're two of the best tracks on the record. Sundowner features guitarist Conor Curley on vocals and is an atmospheric and hazy dream pop tune. The song is straight up Slowdive worship, but I don't mind as I think the band really pull it off and is a good tune at the core of it. Death Kink brings back the grunge aesthetics of Here's The Thing and matches it with the deranged, batshit energy of Starburster. Grain seems to be playing the character of a dangerous, damaged person who knows he's going to end up hurting his partner and is so just so brazen in admitting it. The vocal performance is so commanding and punches through the mix with lines like "Shit shit shit, Battered!" It's the only other track on the album that comes close to the in your face edginess of Starburster.

As mainstream leaning, modern rock albums go, Romance is still really good, but I can't help but feel like it is a bit of a victim of its own hype. It's not this futuristic shot in the arm for the genre the band was promising us, it is a 37 minute record of mostly accessible interpretations of the styles they are drawing influence from. It is also the least cohesive and has the least to say out of all of the bands records. That being said, some of the band's best material is on here and Starburster is probably going to be my favourite song of the year (pardon the pun!).

Top Tracks: Romance, Starburster, Desire, Sundowner, Horesness Is The Whatness, Death Kink, Favourite

7/10

Glass Animals - "I Love You So F***ing Much" (2024)

Glass Animal's last record, 2020's Dreamland, was a massive disappointment for me, as the group stripped out all of the interesting art pop and indietronica elements that made their first two records such captivating releases and replaced them with a boring, washed out and often overproduced dreamy synth pop sound with little engaging songwriting and a handful of real dud tracks that made listening through quite a chore to be honest. While I would've liked the band to have course corrected for their fourth album, I wasn't that hopeful due to the track Heat Waves becoming the groups first pop crossover hit and a global smash at that - I was expecting the band to double down on that sound. While Heat Waves was far from the worst track on Dreamland, it was so meh and middle of the road I didn't even mention it in my review back in 2020. I also feel that Heat Waves' success is more a product of circumstance rather than it being a particularly good song, as the lyrical content about melancholic nostalgia and warm, summery vibe kind of unintentionally captured the zeitgeist of 2020 (everyone being locked up in their houses all summer) and was just alternative enough to appeal to indie kids whilst also being radio-friendly enough to get airtime on pop radio.

While the stinker tracks really drag down the experience of Dreamland, it does have a core concept and narrative being frontman Dave Bailey's coming of age story. I don't think it's executed particularly well, but it's there. Whereas on ILYSFM, it's virtually non-existent. As the title suggests, it's broadly about 'love' and 'human connection', but none of these songs really have anything interesting or profound to say about it. (The weirdly self-censored title is also pretty pointless, but that's an aside). Similarly, on a musical level, the dream pop aesthetics of dreamland were boring at best and clunky at worst; but they're certainly more interesting than what we have here - which is incredibly bland, predictable synth pop that's way too overproduced with way too many layers and a complete lack of fidelity to anything in the mix. Everything here sounds like blown out mush. ILYSFM is essentially 40 minutes of songs that sound like Heat Waves without the earwormy hook and 'vibey' production.

While Dreamland had lower lows, it certainly had higher highs - with a fairly mid track like Heat Waves being better than this entire album. The melodies are simple and repetitive, the lyrics are unremarkable, the production is crap. The best the album gets is Wonderful Nothing, which is built around a massive sounding buzzing synth bass and a darker vocal performance from Bailey which is reminiscent of moments on the band's second album. And it's not like the song is even that memorable, but stands out as having a core idea that isn't just the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus pop song format with layers of mushed up synths on top. whatthehellishappening? sounds like Currents era Tame Impala with way too much reverb and fader and an awfully repetitive melody. The singles Creatures in Heaven and A Tear in Space (Airlock) try their best to be the Heat Waves of this album (Creatures in Heaven's chorus is basically just a rework of Heat Waves), but they're just so overblown and melodramatic. The back half of the record isn't quite as egregious, but again none of these song's come together into anything memorable or unique.

I think the dud tracks on Dreamland really dragged it down in my opinion, because in reflection I'd definitely prefer to listen to that over this. At least it tries something, and there are a couple of tracks I like on that album. I Love You So F***ing Much, on the other hand, is just plain boring. I genuinely think I won't remember any moment from a single one of these songs after a couple of weeks. The fact that this is the same band that made such invigorating and exciting songs like Gooey, Life Itself, Take A Slice is baffling. It has been such a fast and steep fall from grace.

3/10

SOFT PLAY - "HEAVY JELLY" (2024)

SOFT PLAY used to go by the name Slaves and have taken some significant time off as a band due to due some significant life events happening to both members of the group (Isaac Holman - drums and vocals, Laurie Vincent - guitar). Their last appearance was on Gorillaz' Momentary Bliss track way back in January 2020, and the last release of their own was in 2019, and was just essentially a leftovers EP from their last full record in 2018. So it has been a while! Understandably so, considering Laurie lost his wife to cancer in 2020 and Isaac has alluded to having a mental breakdown and has been struggling with OCD, alongside the duo experiencing the loss of a few other significant people in their lives during this time.

Now the band are back with a new name as they were fed up of having to continually justify their previous name choice to a pretty valid criticism that they themselves actually agreed with. The name change is the core conceit of their comeback single (and lead single for HEAVY JELLY), Punk's Dead. The track is essentially a pre-emptive piss take of fans angry about the apparent 'wokeness' of the name change. The song is super heavy, with gnarly garage punk riffs, and also super funny, with some killer lines and a feature from Robbie Williams on the bridge. 

I think Punk's Dead epitomises the change in sound on HEAVY JELLY, it's heavier and also funnier than the group's previous output. Not that the band were ever serious, but on their records in the past, the humour was much more observational and targeted at others (think Girl Fight and Rich Man). Whereas on HJ, the band lean more into absurdism or writing from a first person perspective - making the jokes feel less cynically targeted at individuals and more of a wink and a nod just to bring a smile to peoples faces. On the sound side of things, the sound is much heavier, with super heavy, fuzzed out riffs that border on metal in places. Similarly, Isaac's shouty vocals are so much more intense and also border on a metallic scream - particularly on the opener All Things.

As the record is just a straight up 30 mins of blistering punk rock, I don't feel the need to going in depth into every track here, but here are a few highlights. The story of someone knocking Isaac's shopping out is hand and his completely disproportionate reaction on Act Violently is hilarious, as is his outsized reaction to a leaky bin bag on Bin Juice Disaster. Worms On Tarmac is an absurdist tale of a worm that is lost in the human world of tarmac and concrete who is longing for mud and swamps. Isaac Is Typing... humourfully details Isaacs struggles with OCD against sludgy alt-metal riffs. Mirror Muscles and Working Title are more akin to older targeted piss takes, being about 'roided up gym freaks and people playing the Hollywood game. Both are worthy targets, and make great songs.

That leaves the closer, Everything and Nothing, which is a bit of an oddball in the tracklist, being a jangly mandolin led post-punk / indie rock tune and is the only one that is explicitly about the trauma the duo has been through over the past few years. It is an outpouring of grief that feels so earnest and beautiful. It really touches a nerve, being dedicated to a friend of Isaac who he lost, but with lyrics referencing the death of Laurie's wife and just general isolation and the longing for connection. 

I think that the fact that Everything and Nothing follows a record that up to this point has been silly, fun and irreverent only enhances its impact, and the profundity of the record as a whole. Instead of falling into it all and losing themselves, Isaac and Laurie reformed the band, made a bunch of fun songs that brought a smile to their faces, the faces of their fans, and reconnected with the world around them. And in doing that, the band have made their best album to date.

Top Tracks: All Things, Punk's Dead, Act Violently, Isaac Is Typing..., Bin Juice Disaster, Worms On Tarmac, Mirror Muscles, Working Title, Everything and Nothing

8/10

Declan McKenna - "What Happened to the Beach?" (2024)

Declan McKenna's first two records were albums that showed promise, with a handful of impeccable songs on each, but were contained within messy records that felt less than the sum of their parts overall. I liked him enough that I was always going to check out his third record, but I am pleasantly surprised by how into it I am, and how frequently I have been giving it a spin in the months since its release.

On What Happened to the Beach?, Declan has ditched a lot of the glam rock aesthetics that characterised his previous release, Zeros; replacing them with influences of 60's psychedelic pop and sunshine pop, alongside more modern neo-pysche and hypnagogic pop. I can here shades of The Kinks, The Beatles, MGMT and a whole host of others on the these tracks, and I think this vibe suits Declan's persona much better. On WHTTB? Declan comes across like some weird Hollywood old-timer, who's spent a little too much time in the sun and is just on a planet of his own. He sells this subtle off-kilter weirdness so much more easily than the ostentatious glam rockstar he was playing on Zeros. Similarly, the hit or miss social commentary of Declan's previous work is largely absent, replaced with more personal and introspective lyrics mostly focusing on the social disconnect and pressure of expectations that come with fame. All of this together creates a woozy and hazy vibe, like some sort of summer malaise.

The record opens with the worbly and distorted intro track, WOBBLE, where the album title is repeated again and again, before launching into the breezy but moody Elevator Hum. This track, alongside Mullholland's Dinner and Wine capture this summery yet melancholic vibe perfectly. Both have this feeling of existential longing to them, and are the best tracks on the album. On Elevator Hum. glistening synths are set against a trip-hoppy breakbeat and faint distorted horns that finally poke through the mix towards the end of the track. Mullholland's Dinner and Wine similarly fuses a chill synth-funk bassline with woozy distorted horns and some really existential lyrics where Declan describes all of the things fame has given him but how he's still not satisfied.

There are some other great moments on the first half of the record. I Write The News starts off as a Lennon-esque acoustic guitar cut with lyrics that in typical Lennon fashion appear to be profound on the surface, but are actually just nonsense upon closer inspection. The track then flips on its head, with the guitar swapped out for bouncy psychedelic synths. Nothing Works is a catchy indie pop rock tune, with fuzzed out and noisy production that gives it a real sense of energy that matches some of Declan's biggest hits. This is followed by the raucous The Phantom Buzz (Kick In), which is about the last remnant of the glam rock aesthetic of Zeros. The guitars roar and Declan Howls on the mic.

Not everything on the record lands as well as these moments. Lead single Sympathy is such a straightforward sunshine pop tune, it feels kind of derivative and lacks any of the genuine oddball energy that permeates the best of the record. It just sounds like a Kinks pastiche in all honesty. Breath of Light feels like an attempt at the weirder, uncommercial side of MGMT's music, and is fine but nothing particularly interesting. Honest Test is a crooning lounge pop song that reminds me of Arctic Monkey's excursions into the genre, although I'd say its closer to one of the duds on The Car than the genuinely interestingly written stuff on Tranquillity Base. 

The record comes to quite a sleepy and uneventful close, although the final couple of songs have grown on me to an extent. The gentle acoustic guitars and simple vocal melodies of Mezzanine have such a low-key summery vibe, and the subtle swelling of horns and electric guitar as the song progresses is actually really nice. The penultimate track, It's An Act, is in effect the closer, as the final track is essentially just a short little coda, and is perfectly serviceable, although pretty uneventful and unimpactful.

I feel like Declan has found a sound that really fits him on this record, and has produced his most consistently enjoyable album thus far. Not every song hits as hard as others, and there are points that feel a little derivative, but its a good time with more wins than losses.

Top Tracks: Elevator Hum, I Write The News, Mullholland's Dinner and Wine, Nothing Works, The Phantom Buzz

7/10

Everything Everything - "Mountainhead" (2024)

EE's last record, 2022's Raw Data Feel, never really clicked with me despite generally being critically acclaimed and viewed as something fresh and new for the band by many. It stripped away a lot of organic grooves and progressive, linear song structures that characterised a lot of the bands older work, and replaced them with a much more rigid synth pop aesthetic and a smattering of glitch pop and alt dance stylings that felt more gimmicky than genuinely inventive. Similarly the core lyrical concept of the record focusing around AI generated lyrics and the messy, half formed narrative also came across rather gimmicky and almost a self-parody of the band's usual eccentric 'logical extremes' writing style. 

Thankfully, Mountainhead is a return to form for the band, returning to a lot of the kinetic grooves and colourful sound pallets (with that menacing and uneasy undertone) that put the band on the map. I'd say its the closest sounding thing the band has made to their magnum opus, Get To Heaven, in the years since. The record, much like RDF, has a core concept and a semi-linear narrative; however it is much more clearly defined and thoroughly explored. The lead single, Cold Reactor, is essentially the blurb for the world the band has created on Mountainhead and captures the mood and tone of the record effortlessly. Mountainhead is a world where people try and climb the titular mountain by digging deep into the earth for materials to ascend, growing the mountain ever larger and the pit ever deeper. At the top sits only a mirror for those who mange to climb to the top, and at the bottom of the pit roams a giant golden serpent ready to consume those who fall too far in. Quite an obvious allegory for the modern capitalist world, but one that allows for some pretty evocative imagery and for the band's eccentricities to really flourish. Cold Reactor as a song is quite a straightforward driving new wave tune, but probably the bands best crack at that style, with dense lyrics that evoke strong feelings of loneliness and a desire for connection. 

Wild Guess opens up the record in quite a ballsy way, with a minute and a half driving, fuzzed out guitar solo, before Jonathon Higg's vocals come swooning in like some deranged salesman, with rhetorical questions and telling us "this will be the most important thing you'll ever buy from us". It's not clearly painted out for us, but my interpretation of the song is that it is from the perspective of one of the 'Hellcat priests' within the lore of the album, a religious organisation who's end goal is to grow the mountain and keep believing in the cycle and that one day they will make it to the top themselves.

The second single, The Mad Stone, is more obviously from this perspective, and is sonically probably the most out there on the record. The track bounces between these weird 'plink plonky' verses and these massive multi-tracked choruses, it sounds like some deranged cult chant.

The rest of the first half is really consistent as well. The End of the Contender is quite a stark pop song that really focuses on the lyrics inspired by an incident where some armature boxer from the 70's got in a road rage incident and was acting as if he was some sort of celebrity, even though the other person had no idea who they were. The pulsating bass heavy groove and hazy guitars of Buddy, Come Over is very reminiscent of A Fever Dream, and the ear-catching lyric of "Elvis sitting dead on the toilet" really draws you into the moody and sinister atmosphere of the song. The snappy dance beat R U Happy? reminds me of what the band were trying to go for RDF, however feels much more natural and less gimmicky here, without the entire kitchen sink thrown in. TV Dog rounds out the first half with a simple string laden cut that we haven't really seen from the band since Arc. The weird reversed backing vocals sound really sinister and ominous.

While the first half is probably the most consistent 30 mins of music the group has made since Get To Heaven, the band settles into more predictable pop song writing into the second half, which makes the record feel a little lopsided overall. The skittering percussion and deep bass of Canary are juxtaposed against the delicate vocals and woozy lead guitar, which really sells the 'canary in the coal mine' themes of the song. Don't Ask Me To Beg features some really prominent vocal melodies set against a meaty alt dance groove. Dagger's Edge is the closest the record comes to that pure batshit energy of the likes of Blast Doors or Ivory Tower, but is honestly quite reserved in comparison. The song acts as sort of the turning point of the albums themes, from the perspective of someone who has made it to the top of the mountain, but is still not content, watching over his shoulder for people in this dog-eat-dog world and realising he could fall off the 'dagger's edge' at any time. It is the moment where the social commentary on the record turns to the listener and essentially tells us that the game of life presented through the mountain is ultimately all consuming and will never leave you fulfilled.

It does make the tone of the closing two tracks rather nihilistic and gives no real satisfying conclusion the the album. They're both quiet and reflective, and on their own are decent songs, but the placement as the album's final impression is quite unsatisfying. Following the revelations of Dagger's Edge, City Song is from the perspective of someone stuck in the corporate 9-5 where no-one in their company even knows their name. It is very OK Computer, but very mid-point OK Computer, before the rejection of that way of life on the last two songs of the album (Lucky and The Tourist). Everything Everything know this too, as on Get To Heaven, the insanity of that album was rejected in the last two songs, offering an alternative - hope. I do understand the creative decision behind this, its probably more realistic to say that there is no real escape from the mountain, but its certainly not a satisfying conclusion to the record and sours the experience overall; especially as Dagger's Edge was building towards that and it feels like a bait and switch.

Mountainhead has a lot going for it, the concept and narrative are solid and inventive, it features the return of the band's more progressive and challenging song writing. I just wish it went a little further, as the second half is nowhere near as ambitious as the first, and ended in a more satisfying way. But as it stands, it is a return to form that is certainly better than the band's last couple of records.

Top Tracks: Wild Guess, The End of the Contender, Cold Reactor, Buddy, Come Over, Mad Stone, TV Dog, Don't Ask Me To Beg, Dagger's Edge

7/10

Elbow - "AUDIO VERTIGO" (2024)

I had a suspicion that Elbow's previous album, 2021's Flying Dream 1, would grow on me; and it definitely did. Recorded during the malaise of pandemic lockdowns, it was a very subtle and patient album that was soaked in nostalgia and appreciation for the smaller things in life. When it first released, I was not in a place in my life where I could really resonate with its beautiful simplicity and wholesomeness, but with time I grew to really appreciate it. AUDIO VERTIGO, by contrast is in some ways pivot back to the larger scale anthems that the band are know for; although quite the shake up in the methods used to achieve those arena sing-alongs.

On AUDIO VERTIGO, the band has made a conscious effort to include more prominent and groovier drum rhythms, resulting in 'chunkier' feeling tracks with more urgency and kinetic energy to them. Alongside this, the symphonic string sections that are hallmark of Elbow's sound have been replaced by bombastic horns and fuzzy 80's prog-rock synths. The songs are shorter and more immediate, and at twelve tracks (ten if you don't count the two interludes) and a trim 39 minutes, it is as about as in your face as the band have ever been. For a band that is known for their delicacy and 'sophistication', it is far from that.

Guy Garvey's trademark lyrical prowess is still firmly on display, though. The opening track, Things I've Been Telling Myself for Years, details an alternate history of the band if they broke up after the release of their first record, Asleep In The Back. Garvey plays the character of a smarmy, washed up rockstar against a chugging rhythm section reminiscent to Asleep In The Back's opener, Any Day Now - a nice call back which fits the moody atmosphere of the song perfectly. This launches into the two big singles of the record, Lover's Leap and Balu. Lover's Leap is built around a rumbling drum and bass groove and looping triumphant horns. The lyrics are fairly broad and non-descript, painting a picture of a dramatic, all-consuming romance, but they are merely set dressing for the bombastic groove of the song. The brief interlude before Balu describes the following song perfectly. "Give it fat, wide wheels" Garvey remarks in a studio snippet, which is exactly what the song sounds like. It's gnarly and raucous, with chunky riffs and and fuzzy, descending synth lines. The titular character is an amalgamation of all the 'bad-influence' drinking buddies Guy Garvey has had over the years, and the lyrics of the song imply a kind of 'Icarus flying too close to the sun' motif to the story, which adds a lot of depth and intrigue to the track.

The album slows down at this point, while retaining the chunkier and blockier feel to the rhythm section. Very Heaven is a nostalgic look back at Garvey's late teens after moving out for the first time. It's a cute and simple song, but I feel it is a little restricted by the bands desire for every song to have a more prominent grooves on every song. The rhythm on this one feels a little clunkier than those that preceded it on the record, and stops me fully seeping into the dreamy nostalgia the lyrics try and convey. The song is at it's best when the groove takes a backseat and is swallowed up by the atmospheric synths and chiming guitars during the chorus. On the other hand, I really like the way the grooves on Her to the Earth are presented. They're much stronger, and slightly funky, allowing for Guy's beautiful vocal range to show off a bit (with the addition of a nice backing choir for a little extra). The track contrasts between these funky, synth-y sections and more traditional Elbow chiming guitars and swooning vocals. It's the track most reminiscent to me of the sounds of the 80's prog rock that I mentioned earlier.

The second half of the record kicks of with The Picture, which is just a raw unleash of energy. The band ditches the drum grooves for something more straightfoward, and the guitars chug along. There are little progressive touches to the song (the little countermelodies just before the chorus kicks in are a lot of fun), but at its core, its just a straight up energetic rock song. The lyrics are also some the best on the record, focusing on the breakdown of a messy relationship, but their being a picture on the internet somewhere of the couple just enjoying themselves before it all hit the fan that is unable to be located and deleted. The idea using a picture to convey the decay and shades of grey in a relationship dynamics is a really inventive lyrical device and the song has a lot of fun with it.

Despite the strong start to the second half, as whole it feels a little thin on the ground compared to the first leg of the record. Poker Face is less than two minutes and is over in a flash, and Embers of Day is another short interlude track. In-between these sits Poker Face, which is a song that has grown on me quite a lot since first listen. It is a sombre break-up ballad, and much like Very Heaven, on first listen I thought the chunkier groove to the song didn't suit the vibe all too well. But on repeats I've really begun to appreciate the way the track layers up as it progresses, creating an atmosphere that is subtly disorienting, particularly as the jangly and chiming guitars come in during the last minute.

Embers of Day brings us into the grand finale of the record, which in typical Elbow Fashion is a massive sounding anthem in the penultimate spot followed by a quiet and reflective comedown to close out the record. Good Blood Mexico City is this records 'anthem', but in reality its nothing like One Day Like This or Open Arms. It is just a straight up rock banger that is just shy of three minutes. The song opens with a short verse section with chiming guitars before the chorus hits with a wall of thrashing distorted guitars and chanted vocals. It's even kind of punk-y (for a band that is about as far from punk as rock music gets). From the River slows it down again, and is the longest song on the record, but unfortunately I don't feel it does all that much with the length and suffers from the same problems that a lot of the other slower cuts have thus far. The groove is just a bit clunky and I feel subtler instrumentation would have suited the whimsy of the song much better.

AUDIO VERTIGO has some really excellent moments, and shows that the band have no ideas of just settling into safe and predictable song writing that a lot of artists do at 10 albums into their career. However it doesn't always pay off and it is probably the groups least consistent record for me. But there still isn't even a meh track here, and I can see the merits in all of them (even if some of the aesthetic choice don't land 100% of the time). I had the pleasure of seeing the band live last month and I can say these songs certainly hold up in the live setting next to the bands very best.

Top Tracks: Things I've Been Telling Myself for Years, Lover's Leap, Balu, Her to the Earth, The Picture, Knife Fight, Good Blood Mexico City

7/10