I love this record! Imagine Cheap Trick met TPOH and the Foos and invited you round for a party with The Hives, The Darkness and Queen to jam some Pop Punk…
Opener ‘Roomer’ is built of Energy + Fun, as my notes say, whilst second up ‘Hilow’ has elements of The Darkness and Queen playing Pop Punk before you crash into ‘Stones’ quirky Rock and Roll and the Pop-Punky crash of ‘Mynah.’ It’s a wonderfully mad and creative burst that is only slowed by the frenetic ‘Minuette’ which shows that not everything here is golden.
The second half of the album is almost as interesting but things do appear to go off the boil at moments, though certainly not for my highlight ‘Cut Moon Bleeds’ which is all that this record does right – with a great hook and wonderful construction. Sadly ‘Libertine’ which follows seems to lose power towards the end as the balloon seemingly deflates as it approaches its final moments.
This is an album though that just as you feel you’ve heard the best comes more! ‘Fisherman Blues’ opens very low key before exploding and delivering one of the album’s finest moments delivering something very memorable indeed, the other side of this wonderful coin comes with closer ‘All My Birds Are Dead’ which is another wonderful ride into excess and madness! I love it!
If you’re looking for a sonic explosion with a huge amount of energy that is at times experimental and at times magnificent but never dull, this is one of the albums of the year!
Modern Rock at its vey best. Expect big things!
8.5/10