Within The Horrors‘ new album ‘Luminous‘ is a clear confirmation that they remain a band capable of catapulting emotions far and wide, thanks to the mixture of sounds invented to invite a psychedelic world of positivity.
Never ones for sparing, daring and lengthy introductions to albums, the opener ‘Chasing Shadows’ is an indication that the band have grown in confidence and character. It’s a smart introduction to an album of simplistic bass lines and metallic edges shining bright; giving space and serenity in a room of instruments with an atmosphere of drugging and dosing the senses.
Their 2011 album ‘Skying’ was an affirmative move into more mysterious and mind-bending theatrics, adopting narcotized keys as a near-replacement for the raucous garage-punk genre they were previously associated with. ‘Luminous’ progresses with this ethos, if not in an even more likeable, and therefore loveable, way with the dance-influenced ‘First Day Of Spring’ drawing a mental picture of those lovely garden flowers in bloom, matching the same shade of colour as the paisley shirts the boys in the band wear.
The one thing that distinguishes this album from their back catalogue is its ability to resonate the feeling of euphoria from wanting to dance. The tracks are glued together by a groove; a neo-psychedelic spiral of sounds, building cities inhabited by benumbed civilians, starting off small and expanding into goliath sizes. ‘In and Out Of Sight’ and ‘Falling Star’ are the sharpest examples of this ethos. Not totally loosing the screws so it’s a completely nostalgic track repeating the hypnotic dance-floor anthems of the 70s, but enough funk and genius formula to indicate change for the better. They sound like old children’s TV show theme-tunes rather than a trip on a drug delivering the most potent of illusions; a magic marriage of happiness and melody.
However, it’s not like The Horrors totally lose the grotesque edge they have been associated with. The shoegaze and post-punk spikes are apparent in ‘Jealous Sun’ for sure. ‘One thing that’s always been central to the band is that we’ve kept the same level of intensity since the beginning’, frontman Faris Badwan has said. Intense would be a fine word to describe the overall feel of the album; everything has a purpose to create landscapes of smiles and sunshine; all the while stoned and stupefied and unaware of how fast the world is turning. That’s not to say things are wholly orientated around hips rather than heart. ‘Sleepwalk’ and ‘Change Your Mind’ both come packaged pacing the steps and breaths between the two; drums beating along to gentle melodies in a depleted area only few get to tread on.
‘Luminous’ sees The Horrors stepping over the line which marginalised them. They’re a band that observes evolution as the key to achieving ultimate creativity. A band that is instantly recognisable for their names, their haircuts and their sense of style.
‘Mine and Yours’ is the hybrid of all these various elements; horrific in its nature, but heartfelt in foreshadowing their next steps into the future.