Abstract Centrefold, despite being a great title for a song, is a lovely slab of grunge infused, alt-rock, the sort of thing that used to be called college rock and which immediately conjures up iconic bands such as The Pixies and Sonic Youth, with a few dark Velvet Underground vibes making their way through the cracks too for good measure.
In that circular way that music has of playing the fashion game, for all its nods to the past, with the way that alternative rock has become formalised into fairly predictable musical fayre where black clad skinny jeaned guys with complicated hair play commercialised heavy indie music at one extreme whilst at the other black clad skinny jeaned guys with complicated hair play something resembling metal, this feels like a step forward rather than a step back.
It is full of groove, full of hook, full of melody but more than that it is full of potential, a potential that could just see them leading a charge that sees the whole genre growing a new set of teeth and reclaiming the word alternative back from the clutches of the record industry clutches. You can but hope.
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