It's Alive!

It’s very hard nowadays to pay a great deal of attention to new American bands. The UK music scene is so buoyant and productive in the modern age, that as listeners, we don’t really need to look stateside for our entertainment.

Think about it - I’m betting the last American band you were told you simply had to hear was The Killers in about 2003. That’s not to say there hasn’t been an abundance of great records from across the pond, but with the emergence of bands like the Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Kasabian and Editors, and the ongoing might of Coldplay and Radiohead, there’s really been no requirement to forage elsewhere. But in these times of British rock supremacy, we are perhaps giving the other half of the “special relationship” the thin end of the wedge. The Killers are by no means the only important American export of this decade, and We Are Scientists provide a timely reminder that there’s life in the old dog yet.

With their second album Brain Thrust Mastery, W.A.S. have taken a leap forward, and will more than likely nudge themselves into the conscience of the British listener. The sound is by no means unique, but it’s big and bold, and presses the vast majority of the important buttons. Recent single After Hours has taken the radio by storm, and deservedly so, as it’s as catchy a rock song as you’ll hear all year, and in the best possible way.

The album has a certain Killers-esque feel, again, in a good way - the 80s brought crashing into the modern day to devastatingly exciting effect. There’s nothing too bone crunchingly heavy, but equally nothing sappy whatsoever about Brain Thrust Mastery. There are no weak tracks, just 11 very decent ones. There are no stand out tunes either - each of the aforementioned 11 could have done the same job as After Hours in reminding Britain of the quirky excellence of We Are Scientists. They have not changed the world with this album, and they will probably sell only a modest number of records.