These New Puritans – Hidden

http://www.dominorecordco.co.uk  http://www.munichrecords.com

It’s not difficult to pluck out a few reference points for this band but, compellingly, their overall conception remains tantalisingly beyond easy description. The woodwinds on opener Time Xone echo the soundtrack of a 1960s kitchen-sink drama while We Want War fuses beautifully-recorded drums (a feature of the LP), a rhythm which owes something to Timbaland’s production of Missy Elliot’s Get Ur Freak On, ominous brass and a vocal that exists in the same sort of postcode, if in a different dimension, to The Streets.

Adding to the mix an overt classical influence and a hint of post-punk-funk ensures that the Southend-on-Sea quartet’s second album displays an approachable austerity that almost succeeds in being as enjoyable as it is intriguing. Getting a handle on them might be problematic but, utilising the Cluedo Method of music analysis, These New Puritans might well be The Klaxons, in the library, with the bassoon.