Grouplove - Big Mess

Rating:

Full of loud outbursts and colourful joy.

Grouplove seem to be the forgotten band of the past 5 or so years. Their anthem-ready Californian indie sound catapulted them onto soundtracks, montages, adverts and everything in-between, with debut album ‘Never Trust A Happy Song’ and follow-up ‘Spreading Rumours’ offering up daring excursions into hip-hop, grunge and electronic pop with mixed success. For third album ‘Big Mess’, they’ve seemed to opt for a more straight-forward approach, going after the universal anthems that the likes of U2 strive for, yet with a rough and ready edge that makes ‘Big Mess’ another enjoyable detour in alternative pop glory.

That platform of hands in the air euphoria vibrates through tracks such as ‘Welcome To Your Life’ and ‘Heart Of Mine’, with frontman Christian Zucconi’s distinctive cry sounding as raw as ever. Instead of attempting to showcase the various bells and whistles that make up their musical influences and styles (as they have done on previous records), ‘Big Mess’ naturally flows from the shimmering dance breaks of ‘Good Morning’, through the choppy electro-stutters and descending breakdowns of ‘Cannonball’ and back again, this is a record that’s sure of itself and finds Grouplove really nailing the alt-pop mantra they promised all those years ago.

Full of loud outbursts and colourful joy, you could do much worse than rounding out your summer with ‘Big Mess’. Jamie Muir