Our favourite new band of the 2020s are back with a second album and a relentless touring schedule.
The music forums we frequent have been full of talk about The Vaccines tour. Almost every post or comment has said the same thing, that the support band were fantastic. The support band are of course Brigitte Calls Me Baby, and they are of course utterly fantastic. We absolutely adored the first album. It was number 3 in our best albums of 2024 and only two truly exceptional albums kept it off of the top spot.
The initial single, ‘Slumber Party,’ felt like a continuation of that brilliance with an incredible lead in of Strokes-esque shimmering, jangly guitar. It carried the same confidence, another assured performance by their number one weapon – Wes Leavins and his phenomenal voice. It has been around a while and we first heard it when we saw them at The Sebright Arms last year in June. As with much of their work it has that hint of being out of time, “I Bought Blue Velvet on DVD, I brought it to the slumber party.” Well who takes DVDs to slumber parties any more? Possibly just us film geeks, of which Leavins is definitely a paid up member. I don’t know who these people are who want to gather together and watch David Lynch films but they instantly have to be amazing human beings.
The second single was a different affair. It leans a bit closer to a cleaner eighties style. “That song started with us attempting to write something happy, but somehow found its way to being about infidelity,” shares vocalist Wes Leavins. “We played a few different versions live and in the end decided to lean into the bright and shiny side of it, and it turned into a song where those adulterous thoughts are carried out in a dream scenario.”
On the album as a whole the band lean more into that eighties aspect of their sound. Whilst there was a nostalgia to their sound before, it always felt fresh, the push and pull of different influences created thrilling intersections. Here though ‘The Pit’ feels like listening to one of many indie-pop songs from the mid-eighties. ‘There Always’ is in the same vein. If eighties nostalgia is your bag then you may have a much better time with this album than others are going to. Nostalgia vibes are not a bad thing but Lathe of Heaven managed to produce a much more impactful album recently by adopting those sounds.
‘Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction,’ another we first heard at the Sebright, is one of the better tracks. Third single, ‘I Can Take The Sun Out Of The Sky’ also has more going for it – feeling a bit more modern than much of the rest.
The remaining tracks feel like the soundtrack to a fairly middling eighties romantic comedy. There are things to like about them all, but there is also a whiff of cliché.
This is not a bad album, there is a high level of craft here, strong vocal skill and emotion. It just has a big hint of second album to it. The ideas don’t feel as fully formed as on The Future Is Our Way Out. The fifties and sixties components of those tracks are mostly absent here and I found myself missing them a lot. As the only track that captures that sprinkling of pure magic, Slumber Party, shows, this remains an exceptional band and one that you absolutely have to seek out live. They will make more albums and they will have much more to offer.
Essential Tracks: ‘Slumber Party,’ ‘Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction’ and ‘I Can Take The Sun Right Out Of The Sky.’
UK headline live dates:
- March 12 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
- Apr 2 – London, UK @ Scala
- Apr 3 – Liverpool, UK @ Hangar 34
- Apr 4 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
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