Review: We Are Scientists - Brain Thrust Mastery

I’m not sure I should be writing a review of a group who are renowned for their own reviews. Not that We Are Scientists review run-of-the-mill items like CDs, rather they write critiques on adventure parks and puns and even have their own advice section based on a seemingly random set of questions. Thankfully they also offer good music too. Like their first record, ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’ is nothing too demanding but contains a good quota of addictive tunes. Yet this time they’ve added synth-pop influences when previously they seemed to be riding the Franz Ferdinand (new) wave.

Although marketed aroud the core duo of singer/guitarists Chris Cain and Keith Murray (the former celebrates the über-geek, the latter resembles a suave businessman),  there’s plenty of keyboards on show too. ‘After Hours’ demonstrate the best evidence of their throaty harmonies and nagging riffs whilst ‘That’s What Counts’ and ‘Lethal Enforcer’ sees the group use some of the worst excesses of the 1980’s (slap bass, cheesy keyboards, sighing effeminate vocals) but somehow craft them into sweetly romantic pop records. A special mention for ‘Ghouls’ too; not an obvious way to open the record but its portentous atmosphere and comparatively slow pace promises a brave new beginning.

However, not everything works so well. ‘Impatience’ is based on a riff so simplistic that it becomes dull all too quickly whilst ‘Dinosaurs’ is one of those songs where a group has thrown a load of ideas together and produced a complete mess. Furthermore, a lull towards the middle of the record is only recovered when the glammy ‘Altered Beast’ enters the fray. This in turn is followed by the latest single, ‘Chick Lit’, which combines urgency with a neat melody. Stylistically, We Are Scientists offer little that is new but they create songs that stick in the head and the way in which they’ve reinvented themselves by going down the potentially risky route of using more synths also deserves respect.

Web Sites:
We Are Scientists Official Site
We Are Scientists MySpace

Further Listening:
Franz Ferdinand