Albums of the Week: 08/03/19 (Indoor Pets, The Picturebooks, Foals)

Indoor Pets – Be Content

7/10

Best Tracks: Teriyaki, Being Strange, Barbiturates

FFO: The Magic Gang, Weezer, Bad Sounds

It feels like Indoor Pets (FKA Get Inuit) have been overdue a full-length release for a few years now. They’ve been pumping out banger after banger in terms of their singles and EPs; from the great use of dynamics and structure on Barbiturates to hug-your friends-and-sing-along anthem Pro Procrastinator. This band have been steadily building a lot of justified hype for an LP.

It’s these aforementioned bangers which stand out on the album, now finally here. Eight out of the fourteen tracks on Be Content were available prior to its’ release, and it’s easy to see why, as they’re noticeably stronger than the other six. Standout moments include the feel-good Teriyaki, which introduces a wonderful summery vibe that flows through the veins of the entire record, and Being Strange, coming across as a celebration of how wondrously weird the band can sound in comparison to their contemporaries. And weird they are; first time listeners to Indoor Pets might be taken aback by vocalist Jamie Glass’ unique style (featuring a whole lot of nasally over-articulation), but it fits the music picture-perfectly, and without it, the band wouldn’t carry nearly as much as the natural charisma they do. This album overflows with character, which is a quality sorely missing from a lot of inhabitants of the modern indie pop/rock scene.

Though Be Content is a record dominated by its singles, that’s not to say that the other songs should be dismissed at all. The six deep cuts have their moments of brilliance, too – Couch, for the last minute, turns everything up to 11 in the best way, and the “we wait for something whilst living for nothing” battle cry at it’s close is undeniable air-punch material. If I’d change one thing, though, it’d be to swap My Amnesiac and Barbiturates around on the track listing; the latter feels like it’d be a much more fitting end to the whole thing. Regardless, Be Content is everything you could want as a debut from one of the UK’s most unapologetically fun bands.

The Picturebooks – The Hands of Time

8/10

Best Tracks: The Hands of Time, Rain, Tell Me Lies

FFO: The Temperance Movement, Queens of the Stone Age, Ennio Morricone

Nomadic two-piece The Picturebooks have been criminally overlooked since the release of 2014’s fantastic Imaginary Horse. Their sound is entirely unique to them; garage blues-rock played with simplicity and instrumental creativity, utilising decades-old guitars and massive, minimalist percussion.

On The Hands of Time, the band experiment further than they have before whilst keeping it grounded in their tried-and-tested style. Howling Wolf is the first obvious indication that The Picturebooks are trying out some new elements on this album, utilising a mandolin and a backing vocal refrain that could’ve come from the Mulan OST, and it actually works out pretty well. Across the rest of the album, there are more examples of the band stepping out of their comfort zone; the use of piano on The Day the Thunder Arrives, for example, and the brilliant harmonica on Like My World Explodes and You Can’t Let Go. Admittedly, some of the songs go over more effectively than others, but the majority of the experimentation is well-thought out and interesting.

What connects a lot of the material on The Hands of Time is the sense of cinematic scope. Whether it’s the pounding, adrenalised Electric Nights or the more subtle, brooding closer The Rising Fall, each track feels like it would perfectly fit a scene in something like ‘Django Unchained’ or ‘Easy Rider’. As a result, the defining quality of this album is its imagery and atmosphere, and this idea is epitomised on the record’s finest moment – Rain. It’s exceedingly difficult to listen to it and not picture a lone cowboy riding into a sparse township on the fringes of the Wild West, fingers hovering over a holstered revolver. The whistled hook is something straight out of the Ennio Morricone playbook, and to so vividly evoke the feeling of such spectacular composition is honestly an incredible feat.

I’m juggling with the idea that The Hands of Time is the best Picturebooks album thus far. Despite taking some risks which don’t work out all too well, on the whole the band succeed massively in pushing their sound forward whilst retaining what makes them great. The Hands of Time is my album of the week.

Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1

6/10

Best Tracks: Exits, Syrups, On The Luna

FFO: Everything Everything, Gengahr, Kasabian

The first of two albums lined up for release from Oxford indie giants Foals this year, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 1 is an exercise in ambitious, progressive pop-rock songwriting. Fans of the band’s other material won’t be disappointed, as all the familiar elements are there; the fuzzed-up, funky basslines; Yannis Philippakis’ instantly-recognisable vocal chops; the dreamy, chilled-out vibe that ties most of the band’s material together. It’s very obviously a Foals album, and at this point in their career that’s undoubtedly a good thing.

I really enjoyed the first half of this record, and the singles especially – Exits is layered, yet feels pretty simplistic, and attractive because of it. The syncopated open hi-hats in combination with the snaking bass and earworm vocal lines make it impossible to not tap your foot along. Perhaps my favourite track on the album is On The Luna, a dancey Everything Everything-esque song with some new-wave influenced synths (which can also be found more blatantly on In Degrees)  and higher-pitched singing which suit it really well. Just reading the title will have the refrain stuck in your head for hours on end.

After On The Luna, unfortunately, the quality dips a little, and all the songs seem to blend into one. Other than the latter half of Sunday sounding like a more mellow version of Underworld’s Born Slippy, there’s nothing particularly memorable about this portion of the record. Of course, it could possibly all take on a new meaning once I hear “Part 2” of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, especially since the eighth track, Surf, is labelled as Pt. 1. We’ll just have to wait and see. Still, as it stands, the album as a whole is a worthwhile listen, with some singles that should be set to become as timeless as Inhaler or Birch Tree.