The New Loud - Can't Stop Not Knowing

Few bands pour as much into a single song as Milwaukee electro-rockers The New Loud. Their debut EP is splattered with wild guitar solos, octave-leaping synth lines and crammed key changes. Lead single Don't Dance is a case in point, with its overblown, Muse-meets-Long Blondes barrage, as is their cover of Radiohead's 2+2=5, a scattershot take on the original without its dynamic sensibility. Only on the more restrained Heaven or the change of pace that is Every Girl I See do The New Loud seem relatively listenable. But even in their most measured moments, there's always a needless echo on the vocals or spangly background effect. An injection of minimalism would do them no harm at all. [Nick Mitchell]