Round about this time last year I'd already picked my album of the year, LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver. I fear the same may have happened this year.
There are almost certainly other ***** albums waiting in the wings. But I've not managed to get Guillemots' Red, their second album, out of my mind even at other people's gigs. I'm getting a bit obsessed. It is 2008's first great pop record.
If you hand over your personal data to Polydor, you can download the stunning opening track Kriss Kross for nout.
With its mix of Arabesque drama and Elton John's I'm Still Standing, it's one of the stand-out tracks, but so many of the others are too.
Get Over It, which you can hear at their MySpaz, is far and away the poppiest thing they've yet made, but its motoring bass and Beach Boysy whoo-hoos, along with an off-kilter beat, remind that Guillemots have a huge arsenal not only with their songwriting abilities, but also with production and arrangement.
I saw them three times around the last record, which was Mercury nominated, so I'm well aware how ace they are live. But this album is better than the first one. After careful consideration, and several listens, as far as I'm concerned it is quite simply genius.
Full review to follow soon. Get anticipating.
