Album of the Week

After their poorly performing second album It’s A Bit Complicated got them dropped by their record label, Art Brut have gone back to basics for Art Brut Vs. Satan.



To indicate just how back to basics they have gone, here’s a graph which illustrates the full extent of Eddie Argos’ lyrical focus. Girls. Music. Drinking. Sometimes all three combine, as on What a Rush’s Beatles/Stones analogy for drunken war of the sexes. That’s as complex as it gets though.

If this sounds like criticism, for the most part it is not. No one wants Art Brut to tackle politics (even if they did claim on Formed a Band to have written a song to make Israel and Palestine get along). Instead we get ode to immaturity DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake and Eddie joyfully shouting that he’s “In love with the girl in my comic shop/She’s a girl who likes comics she must get that a lot.” First track and lead off single Alcoholics Unanimous features possibly the best use of “etcetera” in song, ever. Album centrepiece Demon’s Out sees Art Brut wage war against a record buying public who “shouldn’t be voting,” and on Slap Dash for No Cash Argos lambasts Bono wannabes, asking why anyone would want to sound like U2.

Elsewhere, however, they seem to be treading water. The Passenger’s chorus of “I love Public Transportation/Train or bus they’re both amazing” is excruciatingly bad, while The Replacements, a tribute to the band of the same name, sounds like filler.

When the band are more adventurous it pays off. Summer Job features actual proper singing, although obviously not from Eddie, and is one of the most infectious tracks they’ve written. However, it is the last track, Mysterious Bruises, which is the real stand out. The track sees the band abandoning their tried and tested 3-minute punk-pop formula, crafting an 8 minute long oddity with a bassline which is, dare I say, funky. Featuring the hilarious lyric “I fought the floor and the floor won,” the track is an unexpected (in a good way) end to an otherwise solid but overcautious album.

7/10

Out Now

Jed Howlett