The Cubical – It Ain't Human

Whether it’s due to shame or ambition, there’s little to link the The Cubical's bluesy swagger to their Scouse homesteads. No, this is more Louisiana than Liverpool and, with an abundance of harmonica and countrified rock’n’roll nestling alongside Dan Wilson's frighteningly accurate imitation of Tom Waits’ hearty growl, it’s safe to say that there hasn’t been much coming out of Britain that sounds quite like it in the past 40 years.

Dirty Shame tests the waters with an upbeat hotpot of blues and 70s stomp that owes a little too much to The Rolling Stones’ ‘Rocks’ and even if Are We Just Lovers dares to add colour with long strains of hazy, chemically-adjusted guitar, there’s still a confusion as to whether this is homage or nostalgia. It's a brave attempt to bring several decades' worth of American music history to our shores, but it's difficult to see the point in it.