Label: Hardly Art Released: August 19th 2016 Rating: ★★★★
It’s four years since Cold Pumas’ debut record, 2012’s ‘Persistent Malaise’. Now a four piece, ‘The Hanging Valley’ sees a band pushing themselves higher.
The coiled tension at the heart of ‘Fugue States’ – all six and a half minutes of it – never shows sign of faltering, while ‘A Change Of Course’ is a less intense, more freely flowing affair that’s equally as effective.
Though it may lack a couple of peaks to puncture the stratosphere, Cold Pumas’ return is a welcome one. Richard Davies