The Big Moon – Love in the 4th Dimension

In the past The Big Moon have compared their debut album to a roast dinner; a fairly spot-on culinary comparison, as things go. A delicious treat – involving lots of juggling, patience, different elements, and resting periods – along the way, there’s a reason why roasts only come along every odd Sunday. The spuds alone are tricky little blighters to nail, let alone a whole blimmin’ plate-full.

Well, ‘Love in the 4th Dimension’ is the kind of musical roast that’d have Nigella beaming with pride, letting loose mildly suggestive monologues praising the technique and tantalising going on here. There’s plenty of skill going on at the heart of every immediately bite-worthy song. And as it turns out, tracks like ‘Zeds’ – charged with the kind of winky-face innuendo that forms the foundations of old Nige’s cookery empire – would probably get a keenly stamped seal of approval, and all. “I try my hardest to get off… to sleep,” sings Jules Jackson over Celia Archer’s coo-ing lullabies and lush textures, Soph Nathan’s guitar lines snarling and yelping as a lonely night drags on and on, Fern Ford’s crisp snare-thwacks urging things gently on. It’s down a similar avenue to a newly beefed-up recording of ‘Sucker’ – dwelling in darkness, and teasing out threads of hopefulness out the bleak shadows; “I’m with you for life”.

By now, the likes of ‘Sucker’ and ‘The Road’ feel like the sort of songs which’ll stick around for life. They remain blazing beasts, but there’s plenty more of that ilk to be found here. ‘Happy New Year’ tries to recover bleary memories of Auld Lang Syne, despite having a sense of recall like “trying to push an elephant through a sieve”. It’s a lyric that - despite the song’s preoccupation with falling foul of musical cliches – isn’t likely to be repeated. Few bands are as bonkers as this lot, after all.

The smouldering heart of ‘Love In the 4th Dimension’ arrives in the orange-licked shape of ‘Bonfire’; an almighty flame-singed anthem obsessed pursuing the secrets to fire-starting to escape boredom. “Show me how your fingers got in all those pies, I’ll never go away,” urges Jules, presumably hammering down the doors to The 4th Dimension and letting loose wolf-like howls. On all the evidence here, The Big Moon have succeeded in unearthing the secret to a fire debut.