In Our Gun

The new album from Gomez has less of the ‘shambling’ quality of old – they retain some of the bluesy New Orleans muse that marked their previous albums Bring It On and Liquid Skin, but combine it with a harder-edged technological feel – the first thing you notice is that there’s a load of synths and samples.

That said, the programming is often dominated by jazzy intercessions and morphine shots of sax, and superceded on certain tracks by Ben Ottwell’s gravelly voice, so In Our Gun isn’t exactly inorganic.

There’s an arranged marriage of easy-going vocals with industrialised arhythmic jolting on tracks like ‘Detroit Swing 66,’ and low buzzy

Yello-ish guitar rumbles, intercut with odd pings and blips. There are also a number of plaintive guitar-struck laments like the title-track, where the keyboards hover in the background, as well as a fair bit of sweet harmonising going on.

The dancy element is curious and works better on some tracks than others – on songs like ‘Rough Stuff’ they sound even more Mancunian than Ian Brown, singing about fags, drugs and paranoia.

The mixture of dynamic experimental stuff and gentle ballads keeps things interesting, but it might frustrate fans who’d prefer a more cohesive album experience.