Band Of Skulls
Sweet Sour
Talk about timing. This Southampton trio are so committed to southern garage-blues that they have thicketlike beards to prove it, and thus should be poised to benefit from the Black Keys' bringing that sound back into fashion. Or they would if this second album were full of the gnarls and knots that characterised their debut. Instead, they've swept away much of the sediment and found a sweeter sound seemimgly designed to make them candidates for the early-evening slot at the summer festivals. It begins with a gloriously primitive fuzz-guitar fanfare, a motif that is repeated elsewhere, especially on The Devil Takes Care of His Own, which is three minutes of humid swamp-rock. Then it levels out into glossy, MTV-metal terrain, with commercial silkiness added in the form of Russell Marsden and Emma Richardson's wistful vocals. Navigate is a folkish anomaly, a-shimmer with twilit harmonies; Bruises starts out that way, but takes a Bon Jovi-ish turn. You're Not Pretty But You Got It Goin' On is a showcase for Marsden's power-riffing.
Not what you might expect, but great all the same.
Tracklist
1. Sweet Sour
2. Bruises
3. Wanderluster
4. Devil Takes Care Of His Own
5. Lay My Head Down
6. You Aren’t Pretty But You Got It Going On
7. Navigate
8. Hometowns
9. Lies
10. Close To Nowhere