PRIMAL Scream are back with brand new album Chaosmosis and a spring in their step.
As is normal for Primal Scream, the band have swerved into another musical lane yet again with their latest incarnation.
However, it is a lane in which they have had a least two wheels before, thanks to the opening track Trippin' On Your Love which starts out as a Happy Monday's Step On groove and grows into a tribute to Primal Scream's own Screamadelica period, which is of course no bad thing especially when delivered in such superb style.
There is much less of a tendency with this record for Bobby Gillespie to slip into 70s Rolling Stones mode which has been a chosen path on a number of occasions. This time the vocal is much less Mick Jagger and a lot more Bernard Sumner from New Order – much more understated and precise.
It's a twist that really suits Gillespie's voice and one that really helps the songs to settle quickly and effectively.
The album's lead single The Light Gets In perfectly illustrates this and is a Euro pop track featuring Sky Ferreira that honestly could have been written by the Pet Shop Boys or Electronic (there's the Bernard Sumner reference again).
Thankfully, though, there is enough 'primal scream' going on to satisfy the senses – hot guitar licks, an undoubted swagger and a big cool wall of sound to contend with.
When the Blackout Meets The Fallout is a stunning and ambitious slice of great creative madness and sounds a bit like a modern day Scary Monsters by David Bowie, while Golden Rope does evoke a little more of that irresistible Keith Richards's guitar sound and wraps it in gospel psychedelia (best track on the album for me after first few listens).
Much as I prefer Primal Scream records such as Riot City Blues or More Light, Chaosmosis is a bright and breezy fun album that doesn't exactly pull up trees (plants flowers more like) but serves as a refreshing pop alternative for now.
It's the most polished product Primal Scream have ever delivered so maybe they're in spring clean mode. Hopefully the next album will be a little more rough around the edges and sound somewhat more bluesy and boozy. However, that's next time round and Chaosmosis is still actually a great record and fair play to any band who continually try and evolve and vary their output.
Looking forward to seeing these new songs come to life on the band's next tour which includes a Bundoran gig this summer.
