The Rumble Strips - Welcome to The Walk Alone

Try as hard as we reviewers do, we're all plagued with a pretentious edge. We constantly strive to squeeze in the word zeitgeist, eager to slam any album that comes without a modicum of misery and persistantly looking for a new direction. Reviewers across the country will wrestle with this when approached by The Rumble Strips’ sophomore. But take a step back and listen to the London outfit on their own terms and they have an uncanny ability to crush that nagging self-importance. They are not reflective of the zeitgeist, they only talk about girls and they’re happier than a bounding lamb in a Disney cartoon, but damn it’s infectious. From the orchestral Back Bone to the brass of the balladering title track, they twist every instrument into a tool towards happiness. Despite no significant change from previous outing Girls and Weather, Rumble Strips' blinding joy goes lengths to avoid second album syndrome.