The Wombats - This Modern Glitch

‘Our Perfect Disease’ provides an electro infusion to the standard guitar and drums combo and thus offers a much fresher angle on the indie genre. Quickly, this opener sets up stall for the rest of the album: whilst it talks of lost love as the first glitch, reference to TV, trains, mirrors and beds draws attention to the cult of media, of lavish lifestyles, of deceiving oneself. Never a band to follow typical musical expression, the track mourns the loss of a love through the negative points of the relationship as a perfect disease. Despite all the arguments and difficulties the pairing faced in “never seeing eye to eye”, and having different interests, “we all need someone to drive us mad”, or otherwise suffer a life of tedious repetitions.

Single releases ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Jump Into the Fog’ follow on and expand upon previous allusions to social pressures and care free living. The uptempo feel of the two is at odds with subject matter: the first references a music career as similar to “dancing with a beast” - so difficult and full of expectations that there is little room for error – while the latter depicts love as futile while we are all searching for brief encounters in hotel rooms. “It’s clear you feel nothing, so jump into the fog” sings Murphy amongst a cataclysm of drum rolls and guitar chords which overwhelm and reflect the sense of being lost evoked in the lyrics.

Classical stylings ensure that ‘Anti-D’ is a highlight of the album. Described as the album’s “love child” by the group, the track sees an interesting mix of violin double bass strings which offer contrasting high and low symphonies to compare the lighter and darker nature of dependency on drug or person alike. The offer to trust in a person as one may get lost in drugs is rather tempting – whilst “prescribed as freely as any decongestant” the offer to indulge in more than what is prescribed provides moralistic choice and dilemma: people are just as volatile as the drugs they take.

Elsewhere, ‘Techno Fan’ is definitive indie-pop that proclaims a want for a good time: “move with me or get out of my face” advocates living for the night before we are older and not able to enjoy ourselves so freely. Indeed, ‘1996’ talks of teenage kicks: being at liberty to stay out, have sex and eat all the junk food you could without concern for the consequence. “The modern life” that haunts the track tinges every happy memory with the idea that we have to adapt and change and leave the formative days behind.

By the close, the request to “take me as I am” is not the same proclamation of Ke$ha’s ‘We Are Who We Are’ or Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’. Instead, The Wombats are celebrating our selves as imperfections and a need to look at our lives as reflective of modern glitches: pressures to love and have family, whilst fame and money are glamorised all the more.

Smooth and sleek, the album caters for original indie fans, whilst denoting a change in direction that offers versatility to the group’s talent. Truthful lyrics and a mastering of different instruments ensures a masterful and convincing delivery that reflects upon life and its problems, whilst offering a solitude in the electro beats behind most of the material.

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