We Are Scientists – Megaplex

Boasting a yet poppier flavour than their previous record, We Are Scientists are at risk of losing one of their defining attributes: their sincerity

Album Review by George Sully | 23 Apr 2018
Album title: Megaplex
Artist: We Are Scientists
Label: 100% Records
Release date: 27 Apr

Party gun cocked and loaded, New York pop-rock armoury We Are Scientists fire a shiny pop bullet with Megaplex, the band’s sixth album and a self-proclaimed "stacked-up compound of entertainment." And if the trend since Barbara has been to edge closer to a more commercial sound, introducing more electronics with each new record, then Megaplex continues this with gusto. Boasting more pop flavour than even 2016’s Helter Seltzer, the album bears the conspicuous fingerprint of former Katy Perry producer Max Hart, for better or worse.

It says something that the overly-produced (and initially quite un-We-Are-Scientists-y) intro track One In, One Out is one of the strongest tracks here. But if it wasn’t for Keith Murray’s identifiable indie yowling, you’d have a job picking the track out from a more generic pop line-up. Better faring are the more thoughtfully composed hits Heart is a Weapon and Not Another Word, whose shameless aping of an 80s pop style – via warbly synths and ample vocal FX – is married to some catchy, heartfelt songwriting.

But too often for a 30-minute record do you find ponderous filler (Notes in a Bottle, Now or Never, Properties of Perception), in which even the ever-earnest Murray doesn’t seem to believe the lyrics he’s opining. Which means We Are Scientists are at risk of losing one of their defining attributes, alongside their lyrical clarity and ear for a good hook: their sincerity.

Listen to: Heart is a Weapon, Not Another Word

http://wearescientists.com/