Famend for boldly going the place most bands worry to tread, The Horrors are masters of reinvention who as soon as once more upped the ante with their compelling fifth album, V.
The chameleonic Southend-on-Sea popsters initially sprang onto the scene touting a chaotic fusion of 80s gothabilly and 60s garage-rock on their 2007 debut, Unusual Home. But after they modified course dramatically with 2009’s epic, motorik-influenced single “Sea Within A Sea,” they’ve continued to wow followers and critics. Their sophomore launch, the psychedelia-streaked Major Colors (produced by Portishead mainstay Geoff Barrow) drew appreciable reward, whereas 2011’s synth-heavy Skying and 2014’s Luminous have ensured that The Horrors’ profession stays on an upward trajectory.
The band adopted their muse (nearly actually) to the top of the earth to work up the songs for V. Frontman Faris Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb decamped to Iceland with a Korg drum machine and a few acoustic guitars to jot down songs in a distant cabin, whereas guitarist Joshua Third, keyboard wizard Tom Furse and drummer Joseph Spurgeon additionally composed new tracks individually. Bringing all of it again dwelling, the quintet later attached with producer Paul Epworth (Paul McCartney, Coldplay, U2) and magic started to occur.
Recalling the V album classes with fondness, The Horrors had been fulsome with reward for his or her new producer’s enthusiasm, to not point out his spontaneity. “We’d start off with some little motif, usually an electronic loop that seemed appealing, and build stuff up,” stated Joshua Third. “It was like two songs a day, we hadn’t worked like that in years. He [Epworth] would keep the whole thing rolling, whereas we’d got to a stage where we’d bunker down and chat about something for ages. But he’s so obsessed with action, it’s refreshing.”
Equal components gentle and shade, V, which was launched on September 22, 2017, was arguably the darkest, but conversely essentially the most accessible report The Horrors had unleashed. The album introduces itself in dramatic vogue, with glacial, Gary Numan-esque synths framing the churning, industrial pop of “Hologram,” whereas the glitchy electronica ushering in “Machine” morphs into prowling, Stooges-style aggression because the music shifts into excessive gear. Destined to affix “Still Life” and “Sea Within A Sea” as considered one of The Horrors’ signature songs, in the meantime, V’s centerpiece is definitely “Weighed Down”: an elegiac, dub-infused anthem which slow-burns its manner throughout an unmissable six and a half minutes.
Elsewhere, nevertheless, V parades a number of the most unashamedly assured, radio-friendly pop of The Horrors’ profession so far. Buoyed up by effervescent sequencers, the lately launched “Something To Remember Me By” has already wiped out the airwaves, whereas the snappy “World Below” and poised, infectious “Press Enter To Exit” exude all of the hallmarks of killer hits-in-waiting. Then there’s the album’s darkish horse, “Gathering”: an eerie, “Karma Police”-esque commentary on CCTV-related surveillance tradition couched in essentially the most elegant and attractive of melodies.
Launched within the wake of an area tour supporting Depeche Mode, whereby the band proved past doubt they’re able to conquering stadiums on their very own, V vigorously enforced the widely-held perception that The Horrors had been able to tackle all comers. Because the refrain to ‘Hologram’ suggests – they only have to “ride this wave as far as we can.”
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