We Are Scientists - With Love And Squalor

Brooklyn-based individual trio We Are Scientists are fantastic. At a bar, you would not feel compelled to look twice. Regardless of which, if one were to go so far as to strike up a conversation with a WAS, one would realise that they are a wonderfully funny and insightful, as you Americans say, buncha guys. Their latest offering to the public is this, their largely awaited little experiment - the debut album of the moment 'WITH LOVE AND SQUALOR'.

"They're telling me to take it like a man
Take it like a man
Well fuck that
I don't understand
I said I don't understand"

Albums all too often mark out the beginning of the end for bands that fail to live up to the hype (gasp). Fortunately, We Are Scientists are not leaving any time soon. Preciously, they have managed to exceed the hype. Their heads are not up in the clouds and away with the fairies. Conversely, they thankfully seem to be grasping firmly to their guns. Their tunes are fleshed out with intense and sporadic, yet insanely catchy melodies. To put it into Yoda terms, haunt you they will.

It's difficult to single out a particular element of this album that stands out. True to the implications of their name, the album is scientifically sound. The sum of the individual instrument sections are proportionate to not only one another, but to the whole. Keith Murray's vocals commendably stay true to his school (California) and Michael Tapper's drumming provides variety as supposed to a weak back up beat.

'WITH LOVE AND SQUALOR' demonstrates the versatility of (t)WAS's dynamic capabilities. Previous releases 'The Great Escape' and 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt' bring warming comfort in an ocean of avant-garde magical mysteries. However album tracks such as 'This Scene is Dead', 'Inaction' and 'It's A Hit' shed new light on their broody new-New York styled punk. Fantastically addictive.