Moose Blood go three-dimensional on I Don't Know If I Can Do This Anymore

At first tapping in to an audience of overtly emotional 20-somethings with debut album I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time to Time, before tapping in to just about everybody else with 2016’s Top Ten album Blush, the four-piece have rapidly asserted themselves as more than pop-punk poster boys, but as arguably one of the fastest rising bands in the UK of recent years.

Of course, for all the clean-cut, boys next door image that Moose Blood uphold, they’re also a band that have touted (or continue to tout) controversy following allegations that led to the departure of drummer Glenn Harvey last year. Said allegations have impacted little on new album I Don’t Think I Can Do This Any More, a record that from its outset feels quintessentially Moose Blood.

Moving away from the overt twee-ness perpetuated by the song titles of the aforementioned Blush, I Don’t Think I Can Do This Any More shares more in common with the band’s debut than it does its predecessor; the opening salvo of "Have I Told You Enough" and lead single "Talk in Your Sleep" instantly familiar to anyone who’s spent any time with the band’s material before now.

While it’s certainly an aesthetic that’s worked in the bands favour before however, that initial familiarity quickly breeds contempt, and the assumption that already Moose Blood have resorted to box ticking in order to appease an ever-burgeoning fan-base.

As the record progresses, it also begins to open up, becoming arguably Moose Blood’s most sonically ambitious and expansive release to date, the likes of "All the Time", "Promise Me" or "Such a Shame" building on their trademark emo-pop and blossoming in to something much more three-dimensional and encompassing.

Of course, I Don’t Think I Can Do This Any More won't win over any of Moose Blood’s detractors, but despite those tracks featuring early in the album erring on the wrong side of over-familiarity, the band have clearly made a solid effort in developing their sound and maturing as an outfit. And though by no means a perfect album, it’s far less two-dimensional than cursory listens would have one believe.