Young British Artists – Change by Any Other Name

Get ready to fall, and fall hard. After so many false starts in the town this past couple of years, Young British Artists are a Manchester band who mould heritage materials as fearlessly as the late 80s mavericks from whom they take their name.

Reference points are refreshingly off-kilter – there’s a hint of early Ride in the driving fuzz of A New Language, a nod to Husker Du in Everything in Front of You. Change By Any Other Name is not hugely melodic but it’s the raw physicality that convinces, a guitar thrust that smartly pitches Leo Scott’s warm vocals a couple of layers beneath the tumult. Gravitas and enigma ensue.

The closing Forget Your Past is a sweet pull of the rug – as startling a closer as, say, Untitled on R.E.M.’s Green. Much like the old guard this young band surely hold dear, you sense ambition taking hold. [Gary Kaill]