We Are Scientists - Barbara

Where do We Are Scientists find themselves now? Well, they’ve done their ‘mission statement’ record: ‘With Love and Squalor’. They’ve also done their ‘studio’ record: the unashamedly ‘big’ sounding ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’. So what now? Are they shooting for even bigger things and adding yet more elements to their sound?

Er… no. They’ve decided to go for the ‘oh, fuck it, let’s make the absolute rawest-sounding music we can’ approach this time around. ‘Barbara’ is very stripped-back. Actually, we should rephrase that: ‘Barbara’ makes ‘With Love and Squalor’ sound overproduced. Seriously.

As for the songs themselves, well, there are some that say WAS are back to doing what they do best. We would probably agree, but not in the ‘this is a return to form’ kind of way (as we enjoyed the sophomore record rather a lot) - more because of the fact that there isn’t a second wasted. One song being sub-par can drag the rest of an album down. We’re looking at ‘Spoken For’ in quite a pointed manner right now.

You also may have heard that Andy Burrows (ex-Razorlight drummer) is behind the kit for this album. He’s never sounded so good - in fact, to the casual listener it would sound like Michael Tapper never left. Burrows is all over this record; ‘Rules Don’t Stop’ and ‘Foreign Kicks’ are particular highlights.

Elsewhere, Keith Murray’s lost none of his knack for penning a great lyric. Whether self-critical (‘Ambition’ - ‘Lately I’ve been measuring mistakes that I’ve been making / It’s classic over-reaching, stretching way beyond my station’) or simply resigned (‘Nice guys finish last anyway, and that’s just the problem’), he’s pretty consistent throughout.

The album’s two best tracks are up there with the group’s finest material. ‘I Don’t Bite’ features a classic WAS riff, showcasing the band’s renewed vigour and sense of purpose. ‘Pittsburgh’, meanwhile, is the album’s sole mid-tempo song. Driven by exceptional drumming courtesy of Burrows, it shows us that the band are right at home writing slower songs. We’d like to hear more of them, even if it’s highly unlikely they’ll top ‘Textbook’, the pinnacle of the trio’s output so far.

At thirty-one minutes long, there’s very little elbow room contained here. Then again, that’s probably the best thing about it. This time around, We Are Scientists have opted for cohesion, and their direct, no-frills approach has worked, and brilliantly at that. ‘Barbara’ is a delight from start to finish.