Tapes ‘n Tapes - The Loon

Strictly speaking, ‘The Loon’’s British release isn’t a ‘new’ release at all, rendering it more a re-issue than anything else. After all, copies of the record have been sold on import for months now. But DIY loves little more than an excellent debut album (well, apart from handclaps, beepy noises and hot pink, naturally - Ed), and who couldn’t love an album with a track titled ‘Cowbell’? Really?

It’s a lot darker than the cowboy-stylings of lead single ‘Insistor’ suggest - the blues influences more neo-goth than the raven tresses of Jack White would even allow, Josh Grier’s vocals blessed with a melancholy that Conor Oberst would prick his ears up at. And if all that wasn’t enough, the Minnesota four-piece are blessed with the holiest of grails: the ability to create bloody good pop songs.

The anger of ‘Cowbell’ mixes with the gritty blues of ‘Crazy Fights’ and the whiskey-soaked wistfulness of ‘Omaha’, along with the Americana of the album’s most well-known track to create a wonderful mish-mash of sounds, themes and ideas to create a suprisingly coherent record. But then, you’ve probably already listened to it for months now, haven’t you?