Sophomore records, this year, have been something of a let down. From the beefed up retreading of Maximo Park’s Our Earthly Pleasures to the down-right boring return of Bloc Party with A Weekend in the City, they’ve all been a bit of an anti-climax. At least the Arctic Monkeys managed to refocus, listen to some QOTSA and still deliver something actually worth listening to. And now it’s the turn of Art Brut. After 2005’s indie-pop gem of Bang Bang Rock & Roll, could they follow it up? Back then they changed the template. They were clever AND had tunes. So the question is, have they pulled it off?

From the opening line of “We’re taking our clothes off, in the wrong order” you know Art Brut are back with a bang. That oddly spoken delivery is still there, the half-arsed prononciation that gives an added punch to the, often humourous and honest, lyrics. The recent single Direct Hit, with it’s chorus of “Get on the dancefloor, it’s a direct hit!” is an absolutely winner. If only Top of the Pops was still going, they could well find themselves on it delivering their riff-tastic anthem complete with “ooweeeooos”. The best indie-anthem of the year. People in Love is an Art Brut special with their quirky look at love and relationships – “People in love lie around and get fat” – a tale of finishing a relationship before it gets boring and spluttering out. The most obvious thing about the sound of Art Brut second time around is that it’s more muscular. The guitars sound bigger, the drums bang louder and the riffs are as catchy as hell. The twisted, dueling riffs to I Will Survive actually grab the attention more than the lyrics, a real rarity. But it’s a testament to the developing skills of the band as players. They’ve always had an eloquent lyrist, but now they can combine it with the tunes to match. The first single Nag Nag Nag Nag is the link between the two albums, “I’d rather be damp than be seen in jeans” and “A record collection reduced to a mixtape” aping the debuts look at Rock ’n Roll and the hipster scene. Once again the driving guitar riff entwines with the lyrics, dragging the song kicking and screaming through its course.

There is a slight feeling here that sometimes they can be a bit too clever for their own good. The Jealous Guy finale is clever tale of relationships too far and the angular St Pauli doesn’t quite hit the mark and sounds like an off-cut from the debut. But apart from these small niggles, this is a quality follow up and has changed my opinion of the current crop of “sophomore slump” artists and band. It’s a bit complicated? Not by the sound of this.
80%

Links
Art Brut [official site] [myspace]