Dutch Uncles - O Shudder

‘O Shudder’ is the sound of a band ensnared in a late-twenties crisis, fretting about a future of family-planning, job-hunting and “settling down”. Thematically oppressive, you might think, but all this semi-autobiographical talk of adulthood makes for Dutch Uncles’ most direct and user-friendly album yet. 2015 could be the year the band break out.

They have a knack for powerful choruses. Quite often, the lyrics change on each iteration, morphing, evolving as the songs progress. There’s a total lack of regularity. ‘Babymaking’ (whimsical in sound, serious in message) shapeshifts to a backing of luscious string arrangements and piano tinkles; ‘Upsilon’, largely incomprehensible, speaks of the perils of social media with Duncan Wallis’ sensuous, constantly changing vocal once again providing the defining thread; ‘Decided Knowledge’, meanwhile, intertwines chanting backing vocals with Wallis’s lead, narrating the mental knock-on effects of a botched job interview. Throughout, the rhythms are complex, the falsetto unpredictable, the melodies unconventional. The future, they reckon, looks similarly warped.