The Wombats – This Modern Glitch

Posted on April 27, 2011 by 6foot9

After three and a half years, The Wombats release their follow up album. Is it up to scratch?

We’ve been treated to three single releases from this album prior to its full release. First there was ‘Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)”, then “Jump Into The Fog” and just last week “Techno Fan”. Now the whole album has dropped and I’m a teeny tiny bit disappointed. After being shot to success with their debut album in 2007, The Wombats were somewhat prone to falling into the ‘second album flop’ category. However to their credit, ‘This Modern Glitch’ doesn’t completely bomb out, but it doesn’t exactly blaze with brilliance either.

They’ve taken on a new slightly  ’electronic’ sound, whether this is the band trying to ‘grow’ a new sound, or follow the Yeasayers and Delphics into a more dancey genre, I’m not sure. What holds this album together though is front man Matthew Murphy’s iconically British voice and weird and wonderful lyrics. Don’t get me wrong, their are moments of madness on the album, “Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)” will rock any crowd, and the slightly grungy album closer ‘Schumacher The Champagne’ is a pleasantly distorted track packed with moody lyrics and melancholy riffs.

‘This Modern Glitch’ is by no means a bad album, it’s just that The Wombats are an amazing band, and I was expecting a little more. This latest offering doesn’t deviate enough from that which we’ve heard before.