Review catch up: We Were Promised Jetpacks - In the Pit of the Stomach

Earlier in the year I lamented the pointlessness of the Explosions in the Sky single Trembling Hands (I've probably softened on that appraisal now somewhat). It seems that whatever Explosions were drinking when they wrote that song We Were Promised Jetpacks were sculling by the pint with a Jägerbomb chaser. Their debut album was an ok collection of ragged pop songs with a pleasing Scottish lilt. For the follow up, Jetpacks have upped the testosterone and rock action which seems a million miles from their mild mannered first record. The driving rhythms and slash and burn guitars is somewhere between post-rock and shoegaze. Album standout Hard to Remember is a slow burn terror while the minimal vocals of Act on Impulse is a direct lift from the Explosions playbook. Human Error is also a great song towards the end of the record and the more I listen to it, it might be a contender for my favourite songs of the year. To be honest, I'm not sure that this new intensity carries across the entire album as the overt rockiness starts to bleed from one song to the next making them slightly similar. As such, I'm not sure how this album will stand up to repeat listens but as casual fan of the first record, the change in dynamics and sound is a shock and a delight. If that's your type of sound, worth checking out. Whatever the case, they still have a cool name...

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