Crystal Fighters – Follow / Swallow

My pet hate of certain words in band names arises once again: here we have another ‘Crystal’-based band - which could mean sublime music (Stilts), or abhorrent crap (Castles), or inane (Antlers). Luckily for us, these Crystals turn up with the goods.

The two songs offered here aren’t perfect, but they’re pretty close. ‘Follow’ is the stronger of the two tracks; it builds up slowly but steadily, keeping an exciting pace and loud, infectious chanting (though rhyming ‘swallow’ with ‘way’ by adding ‘oh’ is somewhat Stuart Murdochian) and into a high paced track that runs through loud choruses, acoustic guitar marrying with electronics (better than James Yuill, don’t worry) and pulsing beats.

That being said, while ‘Follow’ is the better, that’s not to say that ‘Swallow’ isn’t pretty great in its own right. Opening with vocals before adding both nylon string finger picking and rave synths together could fall down so easily, but here it works beautifully and seamlessly, making an identifiable and brilliant sound. The chorus is again catchy and all breaks are done well, it’s just not quite as addictive as the other A-Side.

In short, this is music that’s evolved by itself – it combines so much to make a sound that is so easily theirs.