VLURE - Escalate

When they first burst onto the scene, VLURE were lumped in with post-punk, often sharing festival stages with dour bands who wouldn't crack a smile if their label deal depended on it.

In the years since then, the band have proved time and time again that they suit a 1am club spot far more than a mid-afternoon in the back of a pub function room. ‘Escalate’ is the final clarion call for what VLURE are really about - and it sure isn't post-punk.

Opener ‘I Want It Euphoric’ is a mission statement, its window-rattling bass overlaid with a pounding synth line as lead singer Hamish intones ‘Take it or leave it / I want it euphoric’. What follows hammers that message home at every opportunity. ‘Let It Escalate’ owes as much to Goldie as it does to anyone else, a rattling rhythm soundtracking Hamish's rapidfire lyrics.

Elsewhere, gothic synths underpin ‘Tha Gaol Agam Ort’ and ‘Just Breathe’ goes further afield than the band have ever been before, enlisting French singer Gaïa to mark out an oasis of calm in an otherwise relentlessly uptempo tracklist.

Old favourites are sprinkled throughout, too, each reworked to give them even more heft. ‘Heartbeat’ was always an absolute banger, but here it feels like a revelation - the kind of track that you hear blasting through the walls of a nightclub at 3am.

Debut albums can be tricky to get right, especially when you've been a going concern for as long as VLURE have. On ‘Escalate’, they've turned up, absolutely flattened any expectations and proceeded to throw a party in the wreckage. Forget post-punk, VLURE are here to proclaim the rise of pill-punk.