Thirteen Senses - Contact

When a band admit they make songs that are a bit ‘wafty’, you’ve got to worry. But don’t fret because Thirteen Senses, purveyors of delicate, quivering pop and so often lumped in with the Keanes of this world, have changed. They’ve moved to London, and in doing so got more ‘grunt’ (as they like to put it). ‘Contact’ - their second album - is noticeably meaner, leaner and more gutsy than their willowy debut ‘The Invitation’.

Tracks like ‘Animal’ are swirly rock, not girly rock, still tangibly gentle at their core, but with a layer of grit which cuts through the smooth exterior. But old habits die hard, of course. ‘Call Someone’ is a bit rinky dink saccharine sweet; it’s anthemic (you can almost see the sun-dazed summer festival crowds swaying en masse to this colossal tune) but perhaps a necessary hark back to their wafty past - we wouldn’t want them going all ‘death metal’ on us or anything (well not straight away). In fact, their new direction won’t be too much of a turn off for their die hard sensitive fans - you still get the epic, swoonsome tracks such as ‘Under The Sun’ and the barely breathing piano-and-vocal wispy stuff (‘Sparks’).

So now Thirteen Senses find themselves in the same ballpark as bands such as Snow Patrol; they’ve discovered the distortion pedal on their guitars, and they aren’t afraid to (occasionally) use it, but are hardly up there with your Nine Inch Nails or Velvet Revolver in terms of all out rock excess. Whereas this new direction is hardly the stuff of rock revelations, it’s just about stopped Thirteen Senses being another sweet but essentially drippy band, and given them a slight, if vaguely timid, nudge in a more beefy direction.