Razorlight. Planet Nowhere.
The London indie rockers recapture their classic vibe on their fifth album. Songs like Zombie Love are bright, upbeat, and utterly addictive.
“You’re not the only big girl I had to call time on, but you’re the only love I always get high on,” sings Johnny Borrell.
The “oh, oh-oh-oh”, chorus connects instantly, and one couplet seems designed to make half the country feel ancient – “I flick the TV and I zap the tube/Just like old people on old movies do.”
Yet these ten tracks, produced by the ever-excellent Youth look back to the era of telly-zappers.
They skate close to 70s rock on numbers like Dirty Luck, flirt with Lou Reed and Beck, and channel Jonathan Richman on empowering, go-for-it anthem Scared Of Nothing.
They also mention him on Taylor Swift = Soft Propaganda, a summery foot-tapper which has nothing to do with Swift whatsoever.
“This sounds like a filler on a Jonathan Richman album/Which means this is probably the best song we’re gonna put on this one,” sings Johnny in the self-mocking opening lines.
Borrell scorns too-cool-for-school rock snobs and phonies on Cool People, which opens with him sneering ‘Who writes this s***t?’.
Razorlight, dubbed “the sound of Camden in the mid-Noughties”, were contemporaries of the Libertines, who they out-sold.
They’ve re-assembled the classic line-up that made their self-titled 2006 multi-platinum second album and topped the charts with America.
Along with Borrell (vocals/guitar), there’s Bjorn Agren (guitar), Carl Dalemo (bass) and Andy Burrows (drums – who sparkles on F.O.B.F.).
That incarnation split in 2008, and by 2011 Borrell was the only one of them left. He put the band on hold in 2013, but his solo career never took off.
Mercifully, they’re back now and it’s like they’ve never been away.
Tears For Fears. Songs For A Nervous Planet.
Nobody marries melancholy lyrics to uplifting music quite like Tears For Fears. Their four new studio tracks include the sad but haunting Say Goodbye To Mum & Dad, the dreamy The Girl That I Call Home and the alienated Astronaut. The other 18 songs are stunning live recordings from the synth-pop greats’ 2023 US tour.
Pixies. The Night The Zombies Came.
The Boston alt-rockers toy with horror movie themes on an eccentric album that ranges from folky opener Primrose to the livelier Oyster Beds. Older fans will love the proto-punk kick of You’re So Impatient, about a bad date in a mall. Other highs include creepy, off-kilter closer The Vegas Suite and the oddly ominous Chicken.
Allie X. Girl With No Face.
A delicious dollop of gothic pop from Canadian star Allie. These 11 tracks draw on the synth-pop 80s, Duran Duran and Cocteau Twins with a side-order of Stevie Nicks. Gems span the bewitching title track, with its wailing climax, driving opener Weird World, and the camp vamp of Off Her T*ts, addressing body dysmorphia.
Jerry Cantrell. I Want Blood.
The Alice In Chains singer-guitarist pioneered Seattle grunge, and his 4th solo album displays all of his formidable strengths. He’s at his heaviest on the dark sullen drag of Off The Rails and the driving title track with its soaring lead guitar. Echoes Of Laughter rolls through atmospheric caverns of sound. Stunningly powerful.
