Three years after getting Dead Reckoning, and just two months after getting Fell & Found, I finally started to delve further into Small Brown Bike's back-catalogue. This was mostly because I was going to be seeing them at Fest that October and wanted to know some more songs. I picked this up in a large online order from Specialist Subject Records (back then, they weren't a shop too, so it was all online). I remember enjoying it, but nowhere near as much as Dead Reckoning or Fell & Found. I don't know if there's a commonly accepted order of preference for their albums, but for me it happens to go in the order I bought them, with Dead Reckoning out in front by a good distance.
Our Own Wars is Small Brown Bike's debut, and it's definitely a bit rougher around the edges - the start of Zerosum sounds like a demo. The bass, however, sounds incredible throughout, particularly on Now & Never where it's really pounding and high in the mix - that song has levels of aggression they'd rarely show again. There are some favourites here - Atlanta has a great outro and Running, Swimming & Sinking has a huge chorus. The Cannons & Tanks is a brilliant opener and a great use of the two vocalists - it's always nice when the first song on a debut album so perfectly shows what a band is about.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records website
When: 31/08/11
Colour: Pink
Etching: Side A: "Umber midget tricycle" Side B: "I want the banana erectors"
mp3s: Download code
