Post War Years – 'Galapagos' album review

Post War Years – 'Galapagos'

• Rated as: 4/5

Royal Leamington Spa. Until recently, a town whose most lasting musical legacy was Nizlopi’s ‘JCB Song’. So it has done well to shape Post War Years from garage-rock beginners to commanding electronic experimentalists. Now residing in London, with one lo-fi, home-recorded album out in 2009, the four-piece have spent the last few years really polishing their sound, and it’s paid off. Foals’ jerky rhythms are incorporated in the intricately textured tracks of ‘Galapagos’, as well as hints of Radiohead – especially in the bubbling ‘Lotus Flower’-styled synths that introduce the penultimate song ‘Nova’. There’s even traditional South African harmonies á la Ladysmith Black Mambazo in the tropical ‘Be Someone’. But despite these diverse influences, the overriding sound is dark yet thrilling electronica, with samples whizzing, diving and exploding at every step. Each listen is like exploring Bowie’s goblin-filled labyrinth, with shady surprises hiding in nooks and crannies. This isn’t the feel-good record that’ll kickstart summer, but it’s thought-provoking music that’ll take you a lot further than the A46.