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 (Columbia/Sony)
Olympia three-piece turn up the punk-funk on album number four
Much like their so-huge-it-was-impossible to miss breakthrough Standing In The Way Of Control, Gossip’s new album is chock full of bluesy rock tracks, with shivering punk-funk bass and clipped, not-quite-disco beats. This time around, though, everything about the music sounds bigger, glossier, more expensive. It could be said that the band have taken the safe route – building on their winning formula, rather than screwing with it – but for my money, Music For Men plays to all of Gossip’s greatest strengths. The slow, chugging Dimestore Diamond – a love song to a girl who wears ‘low cut sweaters and skirts above her knees’ – opens the album on a sultry note; it’s a long overdue reminder that Beth Ditto, whose been spending most of her time lately on magazine covers and at fashion shows, is a powerful and seductive vocalist when she chooses to turn it on. Single Heavy Cross is next – it has an instantly-familiar sound, which could be because it borrows huge chunks of their previous hits, and while it’s not bad, there’s much better to come. Love Long Distance, which begins with disco hi-hats before layering on piano chords and bass, builds irresistibly, like an LCD Soundsystem song; Men In Love and Four Letter Word squelch along like Soulwax productions, while For Keeps plays around with Ditto’s distinctive half-sung, half-shouted vocals, adding some surprising harmonies to the mix. Brief but celebratory, Music For Men is well worth the four year wait.
***½
ALASDAIR DUNCAN
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