***What to make of The Wombats? Just another NME chart-topping, animal-loving band from up North? Just another bunch of floppy-haired indie kids sporting hoodies in primary colours and referencing seminal 80s bands? Well, yes and no. On one hand, this scouse three-piece is indistinguishable from the current hordes of guitar-driven indie bands. While perhaps most akin to The Cribs, The Wombats’ influences are diverse and plentiful: a quirky Kooks riff here, a charmingly boyish Blur-inspired lyric there, even a chorus line nabbed from the Beach Boys in ‘Dr Suzanne Mattox PHD’. On the other hand, however, they stand out from the throngs of indie-poppers in their ability to produce happy, smiley hooks out of bitter and melancholy lyrics. Their debut album is essentially one big sugar-coated diatribe.
It is an album which could not be more aptly titled. Whether it be Laura, Louise, Patricia The Stripper (the list goes on), A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation does exactly what it says on the tin, trotting out account after tiresome account of romantic misadventure.Thankfully, however, there are exceptions – most notably, the deliciously ironic ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’, which is currently gracing many a radio airwave. And let’s not forget the ponderous plinkety-plonk of the sweetly stoical ‘Little Miss Pipedream’ – the only pop song ever to feature the word ‘fulcrum’!But alas, these are but rare gems amid a sea of Liverpudlian grit. It is this album’s overwhelming sense of familiarity and monotony, rather than its hooks and quirks, which linger on the brain.Do The Wombats bring anything particularly new or original to today’s indie-swamped music scene? No, not really. But will they soon be bringing crowds of you to the dance floors of PoNaNa or Bridge? Yes, inevitably.By Emma Woods
Album review: The Wombats, A guide to love, loss, and desperation
