It’s certainly the most enjoyable song on the album, as it manages to nail the disengaged attitude Murphy is aiming for. The same goes for first single ‘Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)’. The melodies haven’t gone far, but they didn’t really need to. It reminds us of that annoying talent the band has of crafting songs busting with recognisable riffs and the sense that they’ve already burrowed their way into your frontal lobe.
#THE WOMBATS THIS MODERN GLITCH CD FULL#
With the harmonies back in full force and a sense of urgency, it’s enjoyably brash. It starts out by sounding like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Zero’ throwing a sugar induced hissy fit, before ending up at an unmistakably poppy chorus. Murphy’s naivety has clearly gone the way of Ol’ Yeller when the opening line is “We don’t admit it, but we’ve never seen eye to eye”. Nowhere is this more obvious than on ‘Our Perfect Disease’. They still sound like The Wombats and that’s fine by us. There’s little that can’t be attributed to others, but neither does that matter very much. Musically, however, the tight guitar lines are now more or less are given the same priority as the synths. Considering that The Wombats rode to fame and Inbetweeners soundtracks on their turn of phrase, the fact there’s an alarming rate of eyebrow-raising lyrics is particularly worrisome. This is mainly down to lead singer/guitarist Murphy’s lyrics that can range from luridly crass (“You don’t look that hygienic anyway” slinks through on ‘Jump Into The Fog’) to hilariously trite (“East London’s not a bomb site, it’s a treasure chest” kicks off ‘Techno Fan’). So, after a mammoth four year wait, should it be smiles o’clock everywhere? Well, on first inspection, it’s disheartening to find that The Wombats have seemingly lost said glint and have replaced it with a vague cynicism and pessimism that threatens to make this a struggle to listen to rather than a joy. It’s why it was easy to fall in love with a band that treated their twisted tales of transcontinental relocation and ironic dancing with a glint of mischief in the eye that spoke to our sillier side. They did this by recording an acoustic version of their single - ‘Backfire At The Disco’ - on a New York subway and unleashing its wide eyed hilarity on to YouTube. Back in 2007 The Wombats, being the cheeky urchins they are, had to promote their first album.