Whilst Harmlessness was a grower, TWIABP's third album was far more instant and accessible. Harmlessness remains my favourite record (now, it took a long time to reach that status though), but I was a fan of this one from the off. The music is a lot poppier in places and the songs feel simpler in structure - few have multiple movements, but there are greater variations between the songs, rather than within them. That maybe doesn't sound that positive, but it all works well for them, much more-so that you'd expect.
The album starts gently, and The Future is an upbeat follow-up. It sets a tone for the album that lyrically is miles away from how it plays out - there's rarely anything heavy in the music, but the lyrics show the darker side, particularly in the back-half of the album with the trio of For Robin, Marine Tigers and Fuzz Minor. The middle of those three made it onto my end-of-year mixtape and has been played to death in the car (so much so I half expect it to go straight into Bosses Hang Pt3 by Godspeed, which was how I followed it up). I still love it - the marching drums and classic post-rock build-up/explosion full of horns.
I ordered this as soon as Banquet listed it on their website, along with a handful of other records and got it a week or so after it came out. It was definitely the first of that parcel I played and I still remember sitting down to play it. I was shocked that it was such an instant hit, but I'd been listening to Harmlessness so much since I'd finally got into it at the start of the year that I guess I was just primed for it. The record is a lovely splatter, as you can see below.
Format: 12", gatefold, picture sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £19.65 new
Bought: Banquet Records website
When: 05/10/17
Colour: Transparent blue with green splatter
Etching: none
mp3s: download code
