All the Saints - Fire on Corridor X

If you thought that the return of acid house in all its Global Hypercoloured glory made for an unlikely renaissance, a second coming of ‘shoe-grunge’ (© Swervedriver, 1991) and a record like Fire on Corridor X shouldn’t throw you for a loop. From the opening instrumental, the haunting keys of Shadow Shadow waltz into All the Saints’ Anglo-centric world where the pursuit of the ethereal, melodic qualities of Ride and the mastery of Spaceman 3's elusive drone are mandatory pastimes. In this respect, The Saints clearly kept their heads down until they emerged with an honest homage, dripping with conviction. Sure, there are no leftfield lunges at reinventing the wheel, but sometimes it’s quite enough to invest in the old fashioned buzz of a crashing guitar. Then there’s the unshakable feeling that, with a second album already on the way, this band could become a contender in 2009. [Dave Kerr]