SOUND JUDGEMENT
The latest album releases reviewed
ROMANCE ★★★★☆
Two years on from number one album
Skinty Fia, the Dublin-viaLondon quintet arrive with a further evolution on the punk sound that made their name.
The opening title track strikes a tone not exactly befitting its name, a foreboding intro punctured by loud crashes – with lead singer Grian Chatten’s promise to “be beside you ‘til you’re dead” sounding more like a threat than a declaration of love.
Shifting from that haunting baritone to the heavily Irishaccented rap of skittery lead-off single Starburster and then the straightforwardly excellent indie of Here’s The Thing, this is a band who refuse to be pigeonholed.
CURVE 1 Mura Masa
★★★★☆ Charged with future bass production and auto-tuned choruses, Guernsey-born record producer Mura Masa’s latest offering proves the definition of a club record.
The 28-year-old, best known for tunes including Love$ick and Deal Wiv It, offers a mountain of groovy low-key electro anthems. Whenever I Want kicks off the album in style, creatively blending elements of hip-hop with bubbly-sounding synth.
Elsewhere, We Are Making Out, featuring Singaporean songwriter Yeule, evokes imagery of London’s nightlife.
Curve 1 feels a lot more cohesive and thought out than Mura Masa’s 2022 album, Demon Time.
DREAM PICTURES Andrew Combs
★★★☆☆ Dream Pictures is a selection of 12 well-crafted tracks which run together across a layered, complex and charged record.
It opens with Fly In My Wine – an otherworldly instrumental which uses disjointed, clunky piano sounds and jarring, distorted synthesised sounds.
Mellow love song Eventide follows, with a steady tempo, a soft, gentle piano instrumental, and soothing vocals.
The album stays sombre throughout, until Mary Gold picks things up with its upbeat backing and bouncing keyboards for a brighter tone.