Brang

The Shanks have manfully fought the good fight over the past few years. Now, at last, with their Brang album, they're beginning to fulfil their potential and knit their disparate personalities and musical tastes together into an eclectic and fascinating whole.

'Dogs', the opening track here, is one of the best of the eleven tunes that clock up a total of just less than 37 minutes. On 'Dogs', The Shanks sound like a cross between The Fall and The Shamen. Even if you don't like either band you'd have to admit a combination of the two is pretty interesting.

'Crystal Clear' has what initially sounds like an incongruous traditional noise but it quickly becomes swampy, Cajun-like and full of undercurrents of frustrated lust. There's also a gorgeous passage of off-the-wall fiddle playing combined with some fine anti-melodic tune-smithing.

'Magnolia # 1' and 'Hole in the Ground' are examples of the faster tempo songs that alternate with the slow, atmospheric numbers. They show both the strengths and weaknesses of The Shanks. Namely, here is a band who can really rev their music up, but who also get a bit pedestrian and loose lyrically.

The best composition is the crackling 'Thunder Hall'. It shimmers with electricity and solders 'anti-guitar' screeching with industrial-inspired sampling.

All in all, there's enough going on in Brang to suggest that The Shanks are on the right road and capable of stirring up a storm of intrigue at their best.