British band The Horrors, album cover for Luminous.
British band The Horrors, album cover for Luminous.
At first they were just haircuts - five Beatles-gone-horribly-wrong bobs that made these Brit-rockers look like real life versions of South Park's Goth Kids.
But over three gloriously glammy albums the Horrors proved they were more than just weird fringes - especially on 2009's Primary Colours, a brilliant dose ofCure-inspired gloom-rock that topped album of the year lists of critics and hipsters alike.
While 2011's Skying suffered ever-so-slightly from keeping-the-ship-steady syndrome, there's no hint of that on Luminous, the five-piece's fourth album that delivers precision drone-rock in the cleanest, crispest Horrors guise yet. It's also - thanks to the constant presence of other-wordly samples and spaced-out synths - their weirdest album to date. It's all the better for it.
Try the whistles, wobbles and odd synth patterns of So Now You Know, a song that starts with a slow-building stomp before unleashing the Horrors' best chorus to date: a dramatic head rush of ghostly drones and Faris Badwan's haunting vocals. It's just one of many memorable moments on Luminous, an album backed by an addictive danceable throb.
There's the deliciously 80s mood setter In and Out of Sight, which comes with the kind of whispered vocals and upbeat bass riff that could soundtrack a Breakfast Club remake. Falling Star is an orchestra-assisted oddity that twists and turns dramatically, while album centrepiece I See You delivers a stunning slice of shimmering space-pop.
The maddening prog-jazz riffs of Mine and Yours shouldn't really work, but fit perfectly after a couple of listens. And you could imagine making a moon landing to Sleepwalk. But it's Jealous Sun that delivers the killer blow: a grungy thriller that huffs and puffs with downtuned guitars and sinister riffs as Badwan croons, "Don't let it all slide away". It's the closest they've come to living up to their name.
Yes, songs still go well past the six-minute mark. Yep, their influences - from Robert Smith's howl to My Bloody Valentine's shoegazing grind, the Klaxons' electro psychedelia and classic monochromatic films - are easily visible.
But Luminous is so perfectly executed, so expertly curated, and delivers such addictive headphone listening, you'd be mad not to venture into the black hole with them. Perhaps it's time to go and get one of their haircuts after all.
Verdict: Drone-rock perfection beamed in from Mars
