Future of the Left's lead singer Andrew Falkous recently made a blog post on the band's myspace page in which he vented his frustration at how early the band's second album, Travels with Myself and Another, had leaked to the internet. I found the post interesting partly because of how it occurred to me that few people could avoid feeling some sympathy for the band's feelings about the leak; but also because, having already heard the album, the way the post was written immediately clicked into place with the tone and style of the album itself. There's something a little angsty about this album - tense, tightly coiled, highly wrought, sometimes quiet but always liable to explode at any minute. They're controlled explosions though - this is taut, cohesive noise rock, comprising an approachably concise album (under 33 minutes) which has been carefully thought out to make sure it can hold our attention from the beginning until the end.It's quite an addictive recipe - the brevity and controlled fury of the songs and of the album as a whole keeps you constantly coming back. This is a resolutely guitar-based album, and whilst the textures are occasionally soaring (as on opener "Arming Eritrea"), they're most often tight, oppressive and claustrophobic. The vocals are vaguely menacing, the lyrics often observant and sometimes surreal, both modes showcased excellently on one of the album's best songs, "Throwing Bricks at Trains". It's a stop-start, off-kilter thing, a story of "Reginald J. Troxfield" and "the fearsome Brown" with enjoyably out-of-place backing "aahs" and an abrupt ending. Another highlight is the closer, "Lapsed Catholics", or more specifically its brilliant spoken-word intro, set against a quiet acoustic backdrop. "Who's prison break is the most impressive?" it begins, soon labelling Sky News a "hysterical technicolour crapfest" and eventually breaking out one of those explosions, launching into a riotous guitar assault.The standard is consistently high here - the sense of urgency and raucous vitality runs through all of these tracks, but it does surface even more thrillingly on some than on the majority. "Drink Nike", with its rapid-fire cries of "sma-lalalalalala", the joint guitar and vocal melodies of "That Damned Fly"... it's easy to find that the highlights rotate around the album, your favourites jumping around with every listen, and that's testament to how strong an album this actually is. Always though, the main thing our attention is stuck to is Falco himself - there's something about his delivery, combined with the intriguing lyrics ("but does it fuck like a maaaan?") that's completely riveting. Even then, those aspects are only the jewel in the crown of a very, very accomplished rock album. 87%Future of the Left on MySpace