gUiLLeMoTs – Walk The River (2011)

In which the exuberantly named and extravagantly talented Fyfe Dangerfield tackles the difficult third album. A band for whom the inclusion of the kitchen sink normally heralds just the starting point of an arrangement, gUiLLeMoTs sound positively restrained in the opening fifteen minutes. Thankfully this restraint is soon cast off and by track 6 ‘Inside‘, the bit now more or less firmly between their teeth, we are back on familiarly frantic ground. If I have any criticism, it is that I fear the dead hand of some record company A&R executive has been offered in the name of ‘improving’ the commercial appeal of the record. The songs are as great as ever, but the reference points are more easily identifiable, the giddy rush of the first album and the bold experimentalism of the second are in scant supply. The result is a much more comfortably radio friendly record, but I’d rather the bipolar extremes of the first two records. Nonetheless, this band’s peculiar world is still well worth the price of admission.