Consistently excellent singles before and heralding this brilliantly odd, clever third album by the London indie band all cement their reputation for a truly original sound filled with a variety of styles, captured in the experimental title of their third LP following 2022’s Anywhere But Here. There’s a thematic evasiveness, masquerading, twisted fantasy and shapeshifting of identity in themes and sound of singer Asha Lorenz joined by Louis O'Bryen, Lincoln Barrett, Campbell Baum and Marco Pini, which makes them instantly striking, as well had difficult to pin down, an alternative reality always at play. As well as huge variety of instruments, Lorenz’s vocal performance is particularly impressive, moving from a pure, high voice to croaky grumbles, close-mic intimacy and dramatic talky asides. The delicately strange and beautiful opener Echo is inspired by the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus, in which the hunter Narcissus, having scorned affections from nymph Echo (in turn given a curse of repeating everything others say), is cursed to fall in love with his own reflection, but also an intriguing reflection on how a real-life relationship works or doesn’t, together or apart. Jetplane is more grungey, catchy, oddball post-punk feel with jittery sax and rhythmic shifts that play with the senses and further evasiveness of theme: “I’m a hot freak / I'm bombastique / Yeah, I'm making modern music in Spain / I'm on the jetplane.”
Love Posture is a dark, moody, goth, twisting and sensual: “We're in a love posture / Four hands, four feet, a monster/ You and me, we're in a love posture / Four hands, four feet, a monster.” The keyboards in another standout, Waxwing have a feel of a spy movie, before the track breaks into a broader, swaggering sound with clever distortions. “You're my wild love / You've got wild ideas/ You're in my wild dreams/ You got that wild heart / If I got one shot / I would shoot at you.” It also makes an intriguing reference to Toni Basil’s 1980s hit. “Maybe you're desire (Mickey is desire) / Maybe you're the bomb (Mickey is my irony) / You make all of my money (Mickey is desire)/ 'Cause you make all my songs / Oh, Mickey, you're so fine / Want to take you back to mine …” Candle is a catchy, woozy stomp with piano, but with a kinky dominatrix references: “I am a cunt / I'll be a cunt again / Left my boy out in the pouring rain.” Today Might Be The Hit is a humorously droll number with background birdsong amid a postpunk / glam rock sound, and some echoes of Tricky’s vocal delivery in the 1990s. The crashing closer JIVE is also humorously offbeat with the image conjured up by: “I wanna jive tonight, I wanna swing my hips / I wanna move like that but I only seem to move like this. Sexy, sweary and surreal at times, this is an album full of intelligent jest and sensual playfulness, conjuring combinations of sounds from surely one of the most interesting and original indie bands around. Out on Domino Records
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