Album Review: the Wombats – Glitterbug

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Album Review: The Wombats – Glitterbug

Save for a few flashes of character, Hatti Linnell finds the band’s latest record largely bland and forgettable

Wednesday 22 April 2015

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Some bands like to take their time delicately crafting their albums, to the extent that fans begin to wonder whether the band are still together. The Wombats have certainly been one of these, with four years between each of their releases so far. Putting in long-term effort is important, but it raises expectation. If you spend four years making something, it needs to be pretty damn special.

Whether the Wombats have achieved this with Glitterbug is doubtful in my mind. The record is a coalmine with a few sparse diamonds; I found it hard to remember most of it even after several listens and the songs merge together, making it one long tale of over-synthesized sex and drugs-based escapades. http://nouse.co.uk/2015/04/22/album-review-the-wombats-glitterbug Archived 11 Dec 2018 09:36:06 Nouse Web Archives Album Review: The Wombats – Glitterbug Page 2 of 3 The start is good, and you can see why songs like ‘Give Me A Try’ were released as singles to promote the album. The chorus is filled with the potential for an indie-disco anthem, and it very nearly gets there. ‘Greek Tragedy’ also has the makings of something good, and it brims with the passion that I associate with the band’s first album. Unfortunately, after this, there isn’t much else good to say. Lyrically, songs like ‘Emoticons’ are rather hit and miss, with lyrics like ‘It’s tough to maintain focus, baby/ Now all my elephants are in the room’, which are a little reminiscent of a pretentious teenager trying to show their intelligence. ‘Be Your Shadow’ is similarly uncomfortable, whilst ‘Headspace’ drags so much that it’ll make you want to tear your hair out.

Further through the album, links begin to emerge between songs from this album and better songs from the Wombats’ back catalogue. ‘This Is Not a Party’ carries the same reckless air as ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’, but formidably worse. Equally, ‘Isabel’ plays like a disappointing version of ‘Here Comes the Anxiety’. The album ends with a significant tail-off, ‘Your Body Is A Weapon’ holds a good riff but that’s about it. The final track, ‘Curveballs’, makes for such odd listening that it is probably best left unspoken about. For a majority of the tracks, the synths are too heavy and I think it overrides a lot of the charm that used to pervade the Wombats’ music, especially the first album.

Overall, there are a couple of tracks on this album which are worth your time, but listening to it as a whole will only fill you with a sense of disappointment.

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One comment

Andy Wallace 27 Apr ’15 at 9:12 am

I wonder if the magnificent album ‘Glitterbug’ would get a more favourable press if ‘The Wombats’ were called something cooler i.e. ‘Dalston House’, ‘Old Street Roundabout’, etc.?

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