With We Are Scientists, they are admired by most, loved by a few and hated by, probably nobody. It’s hard to picture anyone actively disliking the charm, the wit and the frantic pop music that they fashion. A moment without watching their side-splitting youtube videos is a moment wasted, it would seem but musically, they are being exposed to a much wider audience since the release of debut ‘With Love And Squalor’. As ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’ finally reaches the musical sphere, they have a lot of people to please. But it almost seems like the band couldn’t care less about who they have to impress and how they want this album to be portrayed.
They’ve conjured up a sophomore album which sits similar to the debut, with added class, a little less humour and more music to boast about. It’s obvious now that if this record sells well, which it probably will, We Are Scientists may have to worry about the ‘sell-out’ categorization that bands get chucked in without warning sometimes. ‘After Hours’ has been heard by the mass audience of office workers and builders via. regular radio 1 plays and it’s sitting pretty as one of the most pleasant, tuneful and likeable singles released so far this year. Naturally, a new wave of hype has begun to arise out of the midst and the hardcore fans may not like it but from a neutral position, fame for the two comedians would be a huge benefit for all of us.
And even the nervous excitement reeking out of the fanbase will be settled down after an eavesdrop of opener ‘Ghouls’, most assertively the record highlight. It’ll be like nothing most fans will have heard before and most likely, they’ll be blown away by the delay-pedal induced glory – it’s the sound of Keith Murray and Chris Cain finally deciding to advance their sound, a brave decision that most certainly pays off. Despite this huge feat though, the majority of much else on ’Brain Thrust Mastery’ is what most people have come to expect – indie-pop with a confident, fast-paced outer shell. ‘Impatience’ and ‘Let’s See It’ are mind-blowingly catchy, even more so than the early hits of ‘Nobody Move…’ and ‘The Great Escape’, all forming around this simple verse-chorus structure and it’s what the band work best with.
‘Let’s See It’ echoes the words "I’ve realise that I’m just naturally inclined to go and let you down/ I’ve heard this argument made thousands of times/ I guess I get it now” which don’t see the band dabbling in any humour which has most of the time, been the case. A don’t-give-a-fuck hilarious portrayal outside of the music world will always be one of their strong points but the music has always been a punch bag for the more serious words Murray has to say. It’s difficult to imagine anybody being completely un-impressed after even half a listen of this record; its instantaneous impact does it many favours. But undoubtedly, the band are attempting to experiment with what they have and letting it lay down subtlety without anyone noticing too much.
‘Lethal Enforcer’ see synth take a place in proceedings along with another standout, ‘Chick Lit’, which for the record, is excessively camp. The pleasure in this record is that nothing stands out as pretentious, stupid or pointless. ‘Chick Lit’ in particular has one of the best chorus’ many will have heard from anybody since…well, ‘With Love and Squalor’ and it’s at this realisation that it sings true: This record will almost definitely make We Are Scientists a household name whether most want it or not. There’s enough diversity and enough spark in this record that it's nearly impossible to draw negatives out of.
It’s not even a predictable album, there isn’t a weak moment to pick at (where ‘That’s What Counts’ begins as an anticlimax, it turns into a joyous, 80’s influenced guilty pleasure of a closer), and everything is a hit in the making. We Are Scientists haven’t forced fame and fortune upon themselves either, but it’s a given that the mainstream is going to explode when it settles its eardrums upon this monster of a second album – as solid and exciting as it gets, ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’ is one of the music world’s biggest surprises in the last year.
