Fans of indie rock band the Wombat’s from Liverpool have waited 4 long years for the bands latest album ‘Glitterbug’, the follow up to the 2011 ‘This Modern Glitch’, and it was definitely worth the wait.
The first we heard of the album was back in September 2013, when the band posted the hashtag ‘#yourbodyisaweapon’ on their Facebook page, followed by a second message a few days later announcing the track ‘Your Body is a Weapon’ as their new single. It was confirmed by lead singer Matthew Murphy (Murph) that an album would follow the next year, though it wasn’t until the end of 2014 that the new album name and preorder information was announced.
We’re already familiar with singles ‘Your Body is a Weapon’, ‘Emoticons’, ‘Give Me a Try’ and ‘Greek Tragedy’, which are all just as catchy as their first singles such as ‘Moving to New York’ and ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ from their first album back in 2007 that made us fall in love with them in the first place. The lyrics are as witty as ever, and we’ve gone from being “back in Liverpool” and everything feeling the same in ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ to Liverpool feeling like “a crowded memory” in new track ‘Headspace’.
‘Glitterbug’ is bursting with energy and when it comes to tempo and dynamics, there’s isn’t much change throughout the album. This does appear to simmer during slow ballad track ‘Isabel’, which is quite the contrast to the the rest of the album and doesn’t conform to the albums explosive title – though the track is full of heart and does let us focus on Murph’s smooth vocals.
The album comes to an end with ‘Curveballs’ which is like a breath of fresh air, suggesting to us that the band have it in them to change that pop synth sound in the future. Though it’s hard to find Murph’s usually witty and fantastic lyrics anything but cringey in a track with the opening line “There is no greater sight than you in your underwear removing mine”.
The band are phenomenal live and have just announced a huge headline show at London’s Alexandra Palace in October – tickets go on general sale this Friday (24th).
by Laura Dean
