For their sixth album, The Cribs have hooked up with The Cars' Ric Ocasek – arguably best known for his production work with Weezer – and Rivers Cuomo's band serves as a good reference point for the tracks included here.
Indeed, 'For All My Sisters' is loaded with the big riffs, melodic infectiousness and subtle euphoria that Weezer have made their own; the conceit is that it still sounds just like The Cribs at the same time, the band still wearing that slightly bratty insouciance that they have similarly made a career out of.
The big differentiator here is a step-up in maturity, as if they've realised that you can't carry off that reprobate image into your mid-30s.
'Simple Story', for example, has a strained, thwarted folk quality, loaded up with emotional anguish and the troubled notion that you can't be carefree and reckless for ever. 'Pink Snow', meanwhile, starts as a shimmering, pretty track full of promises, regrets and commitments with left-turns into feisty histrionics before falling back into softer shapes.
The band's insistence on shouty, over-the-top moments like 'Pacific Time' or 'Mr. Wrong' still grates, but this is offset by the likes of 'City Storms', 'Summer Of Chances' and 'Different Angles', which possess some of the most urgent pop hooks and catchy anthemic choruses The Cribs have ever delivered.
7/10
Words: Mat Smith
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