Electric Soft Parade blog

Visit brotherselectric.co.uk for all the latest ESP and Brakes in future.

This website will remain as an archive.

Jon Holmes, 6 Music - Sat 28 Apr - Download Tom on the phone (8.3 mb’s) Click here (yousendit link) or Listen Again at the website (approx 1 hour in)

Download the 6 Music Session on Marc Riley 25 April (yousendit links)

Part 1 (5.6 mb) — Part 2 (17.9 mb)

You can also Listen again at the website

On Monday night George Lamb re-played There’s A Silence and Red Balloon For Me from ESP’s 6music session recorded on 27 Sep 2002. Listen back to it HERE

Album Reviews: Blog review - Epoch Times - First Post - Yahoo

Sound Check Five questions for ESP.

Also if you pre-ordered the album at Recordstore and yours isn’t signed, to get a signed sleeve email them with your order number and ask for one (they received them late) customers@recordstore.co.uk

Manchester Evening News Roadhouse review - 4 stars.

Starting the night off with a piece on Marc Riley’s 6 Music show, Electric Soft Parade made it back just in time to catch Actress Hands, a band who have seemingly modelled themselves on ESP’s first album, not that that’s a bad thing… Enter stage left, Electric Soft Parade. We’ve not heard anything from ESP for a few years. Now this could be due to the band’s side project the Brakes, or perhaps it’s due to them fine tuning their skills after the slight disappointment of their second album, American Adventure.

After the huge success of Holes in the Wall, the pressure for them to write as good an album was huge. And with this shackle now dislodged it seems that Electric Soft Parade have come back stronger than ever if the new songs showcased here tonight are anything to go by.

Opening their set with an instrumental that’d put Apache to shame seemed just the tonic for the anticipating crowd, warming and limbering them up ready for what lay ahead. Power rock popping their way through tracks with smiles on their faces is a refreshing sight, and a treat on the ears.

Songs from No Need To Be Downhearted went down incredibly well, so where NME’s 4/10 came from bemuses me, but what do they know anyway?

It was a great night, as the White brothers amused all with their on stage antics and multi-instrumentalists prowess. I’ll be as bold to say that this new album they’re promoting, No Need To Be Downhearted, will certainly throw ESP back among the pigeons, so to speak. It’s like they’ve never been away.

The day you always hoped would come is finally here. The third album is finally released. A dream come true…

Latest Reviews: twistedear - thetripwire.com - ultimate-guitar.com - aversion.com - manchestereveningnews.co.uk - skylinepress.net

insound.com has a free MP3 of Appropriate Ending. More info of when the XFM Scotland session’s on the Xposure show when I know it (no date set as yet) Scroll down for 2 new interviews with Tom.

bbc.co.uk/oxford - click link for an audio interview - Alex White is a bit of a dude. When I first saw him and his brother Thomas at the Zodiac I was wowed by the way they perpetually changed instruments and seemed to be a master of each. Talent like that can’t be kept down and with the support of Oxfordshire’s Truck Records Electric Soft Parade are making something of a return to their Mercury Nominated form with a new album called No Need To Be Downhearted.

Released this week (23rd April 2007) the album was recorded and produced in Steventon at Truck studios with the help of the Goldrush boys Robin and Garo. It’s not done with a vast sum of cash, in fact the band had to sleep in the barn on the farm where the studio is based during the recording. But it is done with the skill and panache of people who really care about the music they are making.

You can listen to me speaking to Alex in the van on the way to Stoke, the first date of their national tour to promote the album.

musicsnobbery.com - Barely into their 20s, brothers Tom and Alex White are practically veterans in the U.K. music scene. Albums such as Holes in the Wall and The American Adventure display their knack for guitar based, indie rock. Their new album, No Need To Be Downhearted, is actually the first to receive a proper U.S. release. Out on Tuesday, the new album brings the brothers into new territory with lush arrangements alongside some epic, pounding guitar rock.

When not touring under the name Electric Soft Parade, the brothers make music with British Sea Power’s Eamon Hamilton as Brakes (or BrakesBrakesBrakes). Both forms of the band will be on tour in the states this May and June.

Tom is one half of the brothers White. I talked with him last month about making the album, so I would like to welcome him to this space.

First off, congratulations on the new album, it’s your best to date. Thanks. I think your recent work should be your best.

Before we get into the new album, I just want to touch base with your other project. You keep pretty busy between this and Brakes. Is it that you need something to do or just you want to create music outside of the Electric Soft Parade spectrum? I just hate having days off. It’s like some bloke, when he retires and just goes crazy because he has nothing to do. Humans are happiest when they are doing something. So it’s boredom and having shitloads of ideas.

Did you have to reassess your previous albums before you starting making the new one? It’s more about perfecting what we do. We got some thing wrong in the past, so on this one we got it right.

What are some things that you wanted to correct? We sounded too conscious of what we were doing. We wanted to sound a certain way. This one we kind of just let it out naturally.

Was it by design that you recorded it by yourself, so that you didn’t have any outside influences? It was by necessity. We just didn’t have the money. If we were going to make a new record, we would have to do it with no budget. We worked in enough studios to know how to do things and what’s going to sound good to us. We taught ourselves how to work ProTools so we could achieve what we wanted.

Where did you go to record it? In a barn on a farm outside of Oxfordshire. There’s a little space set-up by our record label where we could record live instruments and have a stage. It’s small. The control room is barely 5 x 5.

Was it an adjustment working with just the two of you to bounce ideas off of? Yes, it was. Alex listens to a lot of hip-hop and DJ music. I listen to indie, so we needed to come to a middle point.

Did you have songs planned out for when you went to the barn? We started in the beginning of 2006, just a week at a time. “Misunderstanding” was written in 2003, so it just evolved until something real.

The first song on an album usually sets up what’s to come, but “No Need To Be Downhearted (Part One)” is kind of a misnomer. It’s not like the rest of the album. Was that by design? Well, I think an album should be a lot of things. It should really take you on a journey. I didn’t want to start off with a rock track. I wanted to show that there are different sides to this band.

Was Part One and Two originally one song divided into two or two different songs? It was two different songs. We wanted the record to be a circular thing. We wanted to bring the dynamic to where it started.

“Woken By A Kiss” is an epic song. Walk me through the process of creating that song. It was a long process. That, and some others, just evolved from such a point that I don’t remember how they started in the first place. The guitars was a home 8-track demo. We chopped it up and add the drums in the studio. The arrangement changed around for two years until we settle on the final version.

“Cold World” is my favorite track on the album, but it’s actually a previously released song. Yeah, it was the lead track off the EP. We just added to the album in case nobody heard it the first time around.

Any of the songs on the album you feel personally connected to? Well, I kind of enjoy the bookends of the album, and stuff like “Shore Song.” It’s hard to make rock music and have some space in there. We try to make it clean so that your ears can get right in the middle of the mix. We never really nailed those types of tracks before so I glad we got it right on this one.

Now that you have the album finished and to your liking, would you ever want to work with a producer again, even a Nigel Godrich or Jim Abbiss? I wouldn’t want to work with Jim Abbiss. He’s shit man.

Okay, how about somebody you admire? Well, it would have to be somebody who’s familiar with our work. Production should run along side the song. It shouldn’t change the song completely. When we write songs, we have the production side of it planned out as well.

You’re 22 now and you’ve been in the business for 5-7 years. Do you feel like you’re veterans at it? I can gauge better at what people’s reactions will be. That’s one thing about making this record — it was up to us to make songs that could be played on the radio. Any band can say that they can make their own record, but to make a record that stands up against the Bloc Partys of the world, that to me is a major achievement.

Do you see that Mercury Prize nomination as a major achievement as well? Not so much. We were on a major label and I’m sure they pulled a lot of strings to make that nomination happen. That album was so over-produced. It took a year to make. It was ridiculous. I don’t think Alex and I were prepared for it. If it happened now, we could handle it in a different way. We would embrace it or just appreciate it more. I was 17 when that happened. It was a good thing at the time.

Well, you got to go the ceremony and hang out with Mike Skinner, Doves and Ms. Dynamite. It’s not our scene. In America, the press knows how to handle award ceremonies. In England, everybody freaks out. It’s over the top and people get caught up in it. They make such a big deal out of it. The press wouldn’t stop writing about us. I was like, “Come on, give us a chance. We’re just starting out.” The label just pushed us too quickly into it. Right now, if we got a nomination, we would feel like we earned it.

What’s the secret to being in a band with your brother? [Laughs] Watch what you say. We’re on the same page anyway. We usually answer our own questions the same. Finish each other sentences.

Final question, you got any recommendation of new music from the U.K.? Definitely check out Actress Hands. They just made their first album and hopefully they’ll find their way to the States. I think the new Field Music album is one the best things I’ve heard in the past two-three years. I think so many British bands try to sound American, but they sound like who they are. The songwriting is years ahead of anything out of the U.K.

Some more album reviews in the next post (including The Sun) pluginmusic.com interview with Tom.

How are you? Very well, indeed.

Care to introduce yourself? My name is Thomas James White.

How did you get involved in playing music? There was always a piano in the family home - me and my brother Alex used to jam on that. Then I picked up the guitar, then drums…

Where did the band’s name come from? A man came to me in a dream. He was riding a Flaming Pie. He said ‘It shall be Soft Parade with an Electric.’

The tracks from the new album, “No Need To Be Downhearted”, that you have posted on MySpace have a big, bright and clean sound. What can fans expect from the new album? How does it compare to your previous releases? In my opinion it is our most cohesive, accomplished work to date. I think we’ve achieved what we set out to achieve on our first two records: in a time when so much music patronizes the listener, we wanted to make a massive pop record that still challenged the listener at every opportunity.

Does getting accolades from big names, as the band has from Q, Mercury Prize and others, added any extra pressure for the new album? How do you feel about being recognized? Those kinds of things no longer affect our music. There was a time when that kind of recognition felt awkward to us, but we’ve grown up and worked a hell of a lot since our second record. If anything happened now, we’d embrace it, for sure.

I read a quote from you stating that the band’s experience recording this album was different because “there was no budget.” Could you discuss that? Was the concept to keep things, in effect, cheap and get back to basics or was this not a conscious decision? It was necessity. We had no choice. Either the record gets made on zero budget or it doesn’t get made at all. We just saw that as a chance to really get into the engineering side of things, which was a total pleasure and a massive learning experience.

SXSW has just wrapped up for this year and Electric Soft Parade took part in this year’s festival. Was this your first trip to SXSW? How was the experience? It was our second year. Had a few great gigs, but it’s one of those things that’s so fucking amazing the first time you go, you can’t help but feel a little let down the second time.

Two of Electric Soft Parade’s members are brothers. How does that effect the band’s rapport and relationship? It doesn’t.

Name an underrated band you think deserves more attention. Field Music.

What have you been listening to recently? Field Music, RTX, Buck 65, The Aisler’s Set, Ween, Bracken, Carla Bozulich, Mike Watt, Jay-Z, C-Rayz Walz.

If you could have written any song, what song do you wish you had written and why? ‘Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?’ by Ween. It is the funniest song ever recorded.

Anything you would like to add? To the readers: buy more Ween records. And to Ween: come to the UK more!!!!!!

-Corinne, April 11, 2007

Come Back Inside live at LG: HERE

They also have Blue It Is: HERE

Stream Woken By A Kiss, If That’s The Case & Misunderstanding at music.download.com (allow popups)

thisisnottingham.co.uk - 4 stars …this third album is a DIY effort from founder members Alex and Tom White. The brothers play almost everything here in addition to engineering and producing the project. The title track makes for a deliberately low-key opener but they get into their stride on the Squeeze-style bounce of Life In The Backseat. Woken By A Kiss is a woozy slice of psychedelic pop and they come up with a copper-bottomed indie dancefloor-filler on the standout If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know. Misunderstanding is classy melodic guitar pop while the perky piano-led Cold World could be by Ben Folds. A very solid collection of indie pop; maybe it’s third time lucky for the boys.

thesun.co.uk - This week’s hottest albums. Rating ***1/2. Electric Soft Parade have had a bit of an up and down time in the music business… This, their third album, is thankfully nearer the standard of the first. If you’ve never heard the Brighton two-piece then their sound is a bit difficult to explain. Sort of a slightly less camp cross between ELO and The Feeling is a fair stab… bright points include Misunderstanding, If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know and Cold World/Starry Night. If you like your light-rock a bit different then give this a whirl.

timeoutny.com - Would the Electric Soft Parade peter out before having a go at the States? Far from it: No Need to Be Downhearted could be the band’s U.S. breakthrough. The excellent, self-produced album maintains ESP’s reverb-heavy, future-folk sound while cycling through angsty rock and mellow balladry, a tension-and-release pattern of struggling with self-doubt. “Someday / You’ll come out of this okay,” Tom White promises himself on the chorus of “Woken by a Kiss,” a sprawler that jumps from sweeping melodies to dreamy interludes. On the explosive single “If That’s the Case, Then I Don’t Know,” everything the Electric Soft Parade does well falls into place: Fuzzed-out guitar riffs balance with bright, jangly ones; vocal harmonies add pop sheen; and the whole thing ends in glorious distortion. Tracks like this will make American listeners glad the band stuck it out.

sweepingthenation.blogspot.com …fuzzily melancholic, psychedelically influenced power-pop and all it earned them was a cancellation of their major label deal. Now with Truck Records and working on a purely DIY basis, the White brothers have produced the spectrally efficient slow-burner No Need To Be Downhearted.

If That’s The Case live at The Sugarmill by elksie5000: YOUTUBE

Stream the new album in full at Aversion.com

The lyrics are at electricsoftparade.com

ESP: “You won’t get bored of me so easy this time, I’ll be exactly what you need…”

The website is in the middle of being updated and then in future I’m going to concentrate on everything Tom & Alex do, with a new domain name. I want to appreciate their work in the same place, as to me Brakes & ESP mean just as much.

There’s also a review at entertainmentwise.com (full review when the Blog’s working…)

stranger-mag.com - No Need To Be Downhearted is totally DIY, no fancy studio, no budget, just the Brighton Boys on their own and at their best.

Peppered with political lyrics, indie irony and massive crescendos it’s a CD for the summer. Tracks like ‘Misunderstanding’ and ‘If That’s The Case Then I Don’t Know’ will drag even the laziest listener into a jive, while the subtler sounds of ‘Come Back’ and ‘Shore Song’ are unashamed growers.

ESP’s chug-chug rhythms and laconic lyrics are unique, however you can’t help but draw comparisons to bands like Elbow. Nevertheless it’s a summertime classic and we can only hope it does better than their second album… because it bloody deserves to.

thelineofbestfit.com - Like all good things, it starts slowly and builds. It begins with the title track (Part 1), which is a gentle piano led piece until the quiet drums and strings join in. A thoughtful song on growing up and how you have to learn to deal with disappointments. This then segues into the processed guitar-pop of Life In The Backseat which rushes through it’s three minutes, all chiming guitars and vocal harmonies, a gently uplifting anthem of optimism. The entire album follows this pattern, acres of jangly guitar pop that’s entwined with fuzzed up noise ring-fenced by passages of quiet reflection. Reminding me of The Kinks and their perverted take on pop music, Woken By A Kiss swirls between cranked up guitars and whimsical fair music whilst If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know has guitars and keyboards that sear through the hazy backdrop, creating one of the best pop songs I’ve heard in years. Then there’s the gentle, almost Badly Drawn Boy, groove of Shore Song / Surfacing which is all sunshine-tinged acoustic guitars before it descends into the sound of a thousand twinkling stars falling from the clear night sky. There’s not at bad moment on it, the record swings between these passages of slow and beautiful meandering’s and guitar charged pop anthems. Who’d have thought they had it in them!

An unlikely comeback then, but one that should be praised and cherished. A very British band that’s come back from the brink and rediscovered their lust for life and music. This could easily become the soundtrack to the promisingly sunny summer; the power pop anthems for the evenings and the blissed out come downs for the morning after.

soundgenerator.com - Speaking of Britpop survivors, does anybody remember The Electric Soft Parade? Their two core members, Tom and Alex White, have been more active recently with Brighton indie “super-group” (ahem) Brakes. But now the boys are back with a new single, “If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know”. Unlike Ash, TESP have moved with the times and come up with a superbly layered, melodic, fuzzy, potential indie hit.

5 Questions with Tom at Artist Direct “The idea that a piece of music can take you on a journey for a few minutes, take you out of the everyday and transport you somewhere - that’s what I’ve always wanted to do with our songs”

Juno has the single sleeve, there’s new album/single reviews & interviews on the official site (look under Press)

Album review at new-noise.net - click link to read. Ultimately ‘No Need To Be Downhearted’ proves two points. Firstly, it is possible for a young band, full of the joys of spring and the awe of messing about and playing music for a living, to progress into producing something truly unusual and intelligent. Secondly, it is also possible to defy the system and go it alone, with the White brothers taking full control of every element of this offering, quite honestly making it all the better for it.

Album review at austinist.com - The group is unable to choose between three possible identities; one of Smiths-inspired Brit pop, another caught in experimental, lo-fi doldrums and a third all about the dance-able angular guitars that made so many fall in love with the first Bloc Party record. However, in this case it’s the last identity that’s the most agreeable, and “If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know” is a prime example. It comes equipped with hooky guitar riffs, dance party-worthy beats and even the occasional keyboard blip.

revolt-media.com - interview with Alex: “music is a way of uniting people and always will be”…

blog.myspace.com/actresshands - ESP’s new single is “groovier than ‘Golden Skans’ - put it down to the octopus-on-crack drumming” according to the NME. Actress Hands however describe it thus; “changes gear more frequently than a rally driver attempting to circumnavigate Ludwell Maize Maze in under 4 minutes whilst ‘The Best Satisfying Riff Album In The World…Ever’ CD plays at full volume on the car stereo”.

aversion.com - photos from SXSW Saturday including ESP.

Scenesters and Mirror Kissers - At SXSW Tom from ESP was venting about the fact Field Music played a very short set were unrepentant and saying they were not going to be anymore. So with those words I was curious. So I just straight up asked them. They are taking a break, recharging the batteries less time on the road less time being ‘forced’ into publicity and all that kind of things. They were amused about Tom venting during the ESP set.

thetripwire.com - The Tripwire crew has been digging the new record, No Need To Be Downhearted, for quite some time now. It is one of the finer records to land on our desks this year, jam-packed with well-crafted indie pop songs that should give them the attention that they deserve here in the US. The video for the killer first single, “If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know,” shows the band taking part in a talent competition. We agree with the dude in the middle… ESP totally deserves a 10.

blog.myspace.com/undeveloped_photograph - If That’s the Case Then I Don’t Know. Harking back further than their Britpop birthright, this carries a dense Joy Division underlay. Powered by buzzsaw, discordant guitar and swelling keyboard, it manages to possess a genteel and serene Doves like constancy, while inadvertently falling over its subconsciously trippy and engrossing tune.

The Sun - Brothers Tom and Alex White are two of the busiest musicians around. As well as playing in rock band Brakes, the Brighton duo are the brains behind the brilliant Electric Soft Parade. Their debut album, Holes In The Wall, was one of the best of 2002. But despite a Mercury Music Prize nomination, they grew disillusioned with the industry after releasing of follow-up The American Adventure, and decided to try a change in musical direction.

Here Tom talks to Jacqui Swift about the ups and downs of their career, and explains how their new album No Need To Be Downhearted marks a new start for ESP.

You produced this album all by yourselves. How was it? It was a big challenge for us. We could have waited to get signed by a bigger label and try and build up a buzz, but it was more of a challenge and rewarding for us to do it with a tiny label. We have worked with enough producers and a big label to know how a record has got to sound and do it ourselves.

Your debut album was nominated for a Mercury Prize but the second wasn’t so well received. How did that feel? It was a very different album as we didn’t want to make the same record twice. But a lot of the bad feeling about the record came from our label, BMG. If I saw them now I’d have words with them about the way we were treated. We were naïve. Sitting in meetings with people who have not even heard your record is depressing.

How has the music industry changed since you started? It’s changed a lot and you don’t need the big labels or thousands of pounds to plug a record to get on the radio. DJs have got a lot more freedom and people just pick up on songs whether it’s from MySpace or YouTube. There’s also a lot more bands.

You’re only 22 yet this is your third ESP album. It’s my fifth or sixth album in total with the other bands I play in. But Brian Wilson was 21 when he started Pet Sounds, so I’m past it!

Was If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know an obvious choice of single from the start? Yes, really early on it stood out to people we played it to. I trusted our label, Truck, when they said it should be the single. It’s been playlisted on quite a few radio stations.

It’s a very diverse album. Was that a deliberate thing? From day one we have wanted to make every song sound different, we’re quite OCD about it! Each has to have a unique sequence so it’s a different journey.

Why the album title No Need To Be Downhearted? It came from a lyric from a Fall record, the first line of the Middle Class Revolt album. We just thought it was a good title for an album.

How do you think your lyrics have developed over time? I don’t know. I hate it when bands say: “I just want people to interpret my lyrics how they want to.” It’s an easy way of saying: “Er dunno what the hell I am on about”. I just try and get myself into a subconscious mind when I am writing. If you think too much it can be too stylised and you can rip someone off.

Do you and Alex share the same influences or do you argue about your music? There are a lot of random influences in there. The Super Furries were the first band I properly got into and I’ve stayed with them. Alex doesn’t really listen to indie music at all. He’s really into hip-hop like Jay Z. We’ve always been able to appreciate each other’s tastes though.

You previewed your songs at the South By Southwest festival last month. How did it go? I had food poisoning for the first two days and we had to cancel a show. Then we did three shows and it was fine.

Brakes started off as a side project but you had great success with Beatific Visions. Aren’t you tempted to just concentrate on Brakes material? It’s been great but now I’m excited about ESP. I don’t think it worked the first time as we weren’t ready for it, but now we’ve worked hard. I think we deserve success.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? Still in music. Producing other bands maybe. But that’s a long way off, there’s still a lot to be learned.

Rant Magazine - A Mercury Music Prize nomination can often be a curse rather than a blessing. Shortlisted in 2002 for their outstanding independent debut Holes In The Wall, The Electric Soft Parade were swiftly signed to B** and presented with Q Magazine’s best new band award. However, after struggling to convert critical acclaim into mainstream success with 2003’s The American Adventure, the Brighton-based duo parted company with their major label backers.

2007 sees the White brothers back on familiar territory with the release of No Need To Be Downhearted on Truck Records. Written and produced by the band, this new LP sees Tom and Alex regain total control of their musical vision with staggering success.

With their inventive, experimental pop the Electric Soft Parade aren’t afraid of musical reinvention. Refusing to be pigeonholed, No Need To Be Downhearted sees the band explore a myriad of musical styles, each with the same attention to detail and ear for melody. Embracing Pet
Sounds-era Beach Boys (Woken By A Kiss), modern indie-disco (If That’s The Case Then I Don’t Know) and sparse acoustic folk (Secrets), the Electric Soft Parade continue to make hugely enjoyable, intellectually
stimulating pop music. Intelligent songwriters with a strong grasp of arrangement and production, the brothers White remain at the forefront of the British independent scene. A DIY release in the purest sense, No Need To Be Downhearted is one of the finest albums of the year so far.

thefirenote.blogspot.com - Fire Note Says: ESP have not lost a step and return with some new tricks!

Album Review: The Electric Soft Parade had it all after their debut album Holes In The Wall [2002], with a Mercury Music Prize nomination and critical acclaim but like so many others their sophomore effort was met with some criticism. Harnessing that criticism into positive motivation, The Electric Soft Parade are back with No Need To Be Downhearted, which is an album that finds them reinventing their sound and showing off why they were so loved in the first place. I believe that with some of the pressure gone, brothers Tom and Alex White were able to completely make the album they wanted to make.

No Need To Be Downhearted is an appropriate title because the album is full of catchy memorable upbeat pop songs that have a nice balance of their old sound with an infused reborn British spirit. The album stands the test of repeat listens and definitely grows on the listener because you cannot catch all the little musical elements that hide within their music in one passing. The Electric Soft Parade sound very current, fresh and energized on No Need To Be Downhearted and it is a perfect album to win back their old fans and create many new ones.

Key Tracks: “If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know”, “Life In The Back Seat”, “Appropriate Ending”

angryape.com - What does the term indie mean, nowadays? It is a question that many bands who are often put under this umbrella, struggle to answer in interviews. Two Brighton musos answer the question in actions, not words. Tom and Alex White, whose multi-instrumental interplay and vocal labouring forms the fulcrum of Electric Soft Parade, have always done it their own way.

Lately, they have provided the fire and thrust to the quirky, blitz rock engine of Brakes, giving a hint as to why it might have taken four years for this third album to hit the public domain. Whatever they have done in the past, they have always used music as a form of discovery, expression and a show of their independence.

The hollow, piano led Duke Special foraging in the musical undergrowth with Badly Drawn Boy pitch and sound of the title track, represents a more searching and subtle mood building step for Electric Soft Parade. A spacey tone follows and contrasts with this for ‘Life In The Backseat’, changing the vibe and pace with devilish skill and judgement.

There is a certain brooding nature that seeps through the back catalogue and spills over into this foray. It comes out with impunity in the dawdling ballad ‘Secrets’. Featuring lyrical snippets that would be well placed next to Murphy’s Law in the Oxford English Book of Quotations;

“Keep your feelings well hid they will only get trodden on”

The wandering blues approach of ‘Come Back Inside’, builds in pleading vocals against a backdrop of subtle choral backing and pinging bass-lines to emphasise the points made about emotions and spontaneity. This album projects a variety of feelings, moods, styles and rhythms, rather than the groove maintenance approach that has been prevalent on the past two albums.

If it takes four more years for Tom and Alex to produce another offering of musical depth, strength, empiricism and broad range like this, then I don’t think too many true indie connoisseurs will be complaining.