Stealing Sheep – Big Wows
Big Wows, the third album from Liverpool's Stealing Sheep, is shot through with glittery bounce and buzzing synth lines
If ever there was a time in need of a band like Stealing Sheep, it’s 2019. While the incessant Brexit caterwauling continues unabated, there's electro sanctuary to be found within the Liverpool trio’s world. Drawing a straight line path from Kraftwerk, the Pet Shop Boys, Moloko and The Knife, Big Wows is shot through with glittery bounce and buzzing synth lines, each melody drowned out by anticipation of the next.
Crossing unashamedly into the realms of the ridiculous, Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley and Lucy Mercer trade vocals and continually attempt to one-up one another, stacking memorable hooks as fast as they discard them. The breathless four-song opening stretch is nothing less than perfection: Jokin' Me is roughly three brilliant pop songs played at the same time, and Why Haven’t I? is a woozy assault that would make Vince Noir proud. However, Just Dreaming’s hazy drone also shows the band’s songwriting can stand unadorned when it needs to.
Stealing Sheep’s skill has never been in doubt, but past records have struggled to sustain individual highs. 2015’s Not Real, for instance, never got over the hurdle of its title track, while debut Into the Diamond Sun offered up early highlights Shut Eye and Genevieve and then retreated to nondescript folk autopilot. With Big Wows, they finally overcome this with a resolutely electronic approach and an abject refusal to settle. Three albums in, they’ve attained a mastery of their craft that’s a joy to behold.
Listen to: Just Dreaming, Big Wows, Why Haven’t I?