The east London band fronted by dual vocalists Will Harrison and Lois Kelly return with a sophomore album of striking, catchy, witty, synth-heavy postpunk-indie-pop, themed about the messiness of communication other modern absurdities, produced by Al Doyle of Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem. It’s the latter where there is particular echo of style, especially on the excellent single Roundabout, but there’s a potent mix of other cleverly knitted genres at play, such as the twinkling synth keyboards, blurry 90s rave New Order flavour to opener Take You Back. The title track bristles with anxiety and dry wit, social misfires, self-sabotage and success-envy, and Harrison says: "It’s about feeling bitter towards people who are just better at chatting shit." Running themes continue over the unease of saying too much or not enough, the quiet resentment of being out-charmed, and the spiral of overthinking. Other standouts include the social satire about pub culture on Meet Me On The Pub Roof (“Can't believe you've not been here before / I've been drinking herе since '84”), the droll Spain (“Yeah I feel I'm numbing / Like an old Brit cooking in Spain / And it feels like something / And it feels like nothing”), the pacy, 80s reminiscent, squiggly electro-pop of Ravelling, the lively syncopations of New Best Thing, further 80s retro sounds of Cheeseball, and the more stripped back, acoustic guitar twangs and wonky synths of the the quirky, nihilistic, que-sera-sera emotions of Like That. Filled with energy, sharpness and charm, they continue to rise, and are a great band live too. Out on Submarine Cat Records.
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