The Wombats “Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life”
For the uninitiated, the name The Wombats may conjure up images of some obscure Aussie country musicians which couldn’t be further from the truth for Liverpudlian rockers, who have to this point eluded my attention. A shame given their none too serious approach, something happily remedied now.
Album openers Cheetah Tongue and Lemon To A Knife Fight are fun modern rock songs. Turn takes a somewhat more mellow more modern electronic approach, where Black Flamingo fully embraces its electro rock influences with shade of modern Devo, Blondie and the Cars and Lethal Combination is just a great track.
Interstingly, the new album was written across the globe. Drummer Dan Haggis based in London, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and his young family in Oslo and frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy settled in LA. Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life was formulated over some seriously long distance writing sessions, with occasional two week catch ups in Oslo. The new album is a electro pop based, alt-rock masterpiece.
Discussing the new album Murph states “I wanted to make an album that had more swagger, was a bit more laid back, something that wasn’t punching you in the face every time you listen to it. On every level, musically and interpersonally, we’re much closer.” A great summation, as the music on this album really creeps up and gets under your skin in the best, most subtle of ways.
Album Review By Peter Lanyon
