We Are Scientists’ 2005 debut, With Love And Squalor, traded in fun if derivative indie-pop: there were snatches of Bloc Party’s avant-rock and lashings of The Killers’ new wave bombast. A surprise hit, the record turned frontman Keith Murray into something of an alt. pin-up and left We Are Scientists’ rapidly growing fanbase gasping for more.
Well, they’re going to have wait a little longer: a sequel to With Love And Squalor is not due until late next year. In the meantime, fans must make do with Crap Attack: an odds ‘n’ sods collection of B-sides, covers and remixes. Certainly, one cannot accuse We Are Scientists of tossing out filler: there’s a revealingly reverent and wrenching cover of Sigur Ros’ ‘Hoppipolla’; elsewhere their take on Art Brut’s ‘Bang Bang Rock ‘n Roll’ exudes a persuasive mod shimmer while a remix of ‘The Great Escape’ sounds like something the DFA could have cooked up in a spare moment (the overhaul is in fact by Kill Pony Productions). All told, as decent a stopgap as one might have hoped for.