This is the Scottish band's 5th album. They are an interesting blend of noisy catharsis disguised as indie rock, The overall jangle of what they do sometimes blends together thus causing me to give the more thoughtful tone of "Plans" another listen to fully digest. It works off a similar formula that fueled this sort of thing since the Pixies. Lyrics are one of their key selling points as this song bears the line "I've spent half my life with the sole intention of breaking them ". Then it ambles off into an odd jam. The soul-baring honesty of the lyrics rivals that of Death Cab for Cutie on the song "Uncertain". This does feel like a lost gem from the early 2000s.
There is a more grunge-tinged swagger to "One Nation Under DOG" , so I have to give "Unfiltered" an additional listen of two to figure out what is going on with it. Would not call it punk, but the influence of that kind of reckless energy touches it. "Sound Aye No Bother" falls into that lost era where Shoe Gaze touched upon emo to become post-rock. An instrumental is not what I expected from this album, but it works. There is also a more introspective simmer that rides out the subdued tension to "Elemental Attributes" it is moody,but not dark, and coasts on a more detached shade of gray. Great guitar tones are captured on this album.
The pace picks up to a brisk shimmy with "Starfuckers". Female vocals also join in on the angular build where a chorus would be. Instead, a hushed tension carries the song. "SAHD" is another melodic, yet introspectively tense shoe-gazing piece of jangle. The last song works on more of the band's more Pixies like tendencies. I will give this album a 9 as it touches on nostalgia for a time and place in music that was dear to me. It drops October 27th .
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