Curses

Basically former Welsh indie It Band Mclusky with a new bassist (former Jarcrew leader Kelson Mathias), Future of the Left picks up pretty much exactly where Mclusky left off, with some of the electronic aspects of Jarcrew mutated into leader Andrew Falkous' nervy twitch-grind-shriek aesthetic on tracks like "Manchasm" and "Suddenly It's a Folk Song." Most of the album is devoted to tightly wound spurts of feedback and fractured rhythms, such as the first two singles "Fingers Become Thumbs" and "The Lord Hates a Coward." Falkous' lyrical outrage, daffy displays of dark humor and instrumental aggression will be welcome to old-school Mclusky fans saddened by that band's sudden 2005 split, but even with the welcome changes brought by Mathias' inclusion in the band, there's a certain staleness to Curses: over the course of Mclusky's three albums, they explored as much of this Pixies-derived territory as can be usefully explored, and songs like "F**k the Countryside Alliance" and "A Dead Enemy Always Smells Sweet" can't help but sound a bit like retreads to anyone with a copy of Mclusky Do Dallas.