With Love and Squalor: We Are Scientists: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

With their daft facial hair and questionable fashion sense, tank-top sporting Brooklyn supernerds We Are Scientists resemble those eccentric mathematics lecturers one use to see on Open University in the early 1970s. Do not be deceived by this veil of foolishness for With Love and Squalor is a splendidly dexterous debut, a lubricated salvo of trim pop-punk cramming 13 songs into an honorably waffle-free 36 minutes.

Obvious touchstones include Franz Ferdinand (on fun setting) and the wit, jerk and pop inclination of XTC circa Drums And Wires and Black Sea. Exploding into action with the adrenalin swoop of "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" and "This Scene Is Dead" and taking in such other fine moments as the reggaefied "Can't Lose", the Terrorvision-meets-Buzzcocks "Callbacks" and nods to the mope-rock of The Cure on the philosophical experience-is-the-best-teacher procrastination of "Textbook".

With Love And Squalor places "We Are Scientists" in line for this years Nobel Prize for punk-pop novelty. --Kevin Maidment

Review

Despite their Brooklyn heritage (and rather alarming facial hair), We Are Scientists could easily be mistaken for one of the exuberant British post-punk bands currently peppering the charts with infinitely catchy suburban tales of booze and birds. However, the consistently strong hooks on so many of the tracks here sets them apart from the rest.

This album is tirelessly energetic and full of potential chart hits. They make writing a three minute pop/punk single look so easy, you wonder what they'd sound like if they decided not to go out drinking every night and REALLY applied themselves. Plus, they're not just about quirky lyrics - flamboyant basslines and elaborate drums belie a musicianship more capable than your average XTC cover band, amply proven during their live sets.

This debut more than ably delivers a lesson in infectious pop. --Jack Smith

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