(Warner Music)

Outstanding spiky pop from trio of West Yorkshire brothers

Some of the aspects of The Cribs, comprised of brothers Ryan, Gary and Ross Jarman, could remind the listener superficially of other British guitar pop bands that choose to sing in their homeland accents, such as Maximo Park or Futureheads. And while they also share those bands’ love of quick-paced song-stories heavy with pop hooks, there’s also a soaring, angsty, almost grandiose, quality to some of their material that is a little reminiscent of early Manic Street Preachers. Latest album Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever (great title!) also comes with a sharp production job from Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos and a corker of an opening track – Our Bovine Public is as good a combination of wonderfully bitter lyrics and insanely catchy melody as you could hope for. The precision punch of I’m A Realist could be an outtake from the aforementioned Manics’ The Holy Bible, only with funnier lyrics: “I’m a realist, I’m a romantic, I’m an indecisive piece of shit”.  Be Safe is also thoroughly excellent, a loud, surging ballad enhanced by stormy guitars and a spoken word monologue courtesy of Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo. Tunes reign supreme on the album and combined with consistently punchy performances, The Cribs have come up with their finest record yet.

****

MATT THROWER

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