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On Sticks and Stones, Underground Railroad take the concept of difficult second album syndrome, chew it up, spit it out and grind it into the floor before most bands would even have tuned up their guitars. Or, in other words, they build on the solid foundation of last summer's Twisted Trees to take their heady mix of sounds poached from the Velvet Underground, Jesus and Mary Chain and Death Cab For Cutie to new heights.
Think My Bloody Valentine if they'd decided to come back as a Seattle Nu-Wave pop trio with shades of emo and you'll be somewhere close: angular guitars, Madchester loops of psychedelic haze topped by friendly melodies and melodramatics that try and succeed to keep their cool. Of course, they come with such a pedigree you'd expect little else - it's not just any band that gets asked to open for Dinosaur Jr on their European tour.
Despite nods to bands old enough to be their grandparents, Underground Railroad still manage to sound remarkably modern. From Seattle, there are definite memories of the gentler end of Grunge, but these are layered in equal touches of folktronica that not many bands are mixing together quite as skilfully.
On 25, as well as current single Sticks and Stones, the lyrics are catchy if not entirely mainstream radio friendly, while on the paranoid leanings of NYC (Money Money) they show more depth, channelling the spare energy the New York Dolls left lying around coupled with lyrics both Morrissey and The Strokes would be proud of, particularly in the refrain, 'you think you're cool but you're not cool' which taunts the narrator's Wall Street cockiness.
From here they take us into the easier listening but darker tale of Kill Me Now (Or You Never Will), a Daily Mail-baiting call to suicide and one of the highlights of the album. Another is the comedown hell of One More Hit, with its heartbeat drums and disconnected voices.
Sticks and Stones is a well-crafted, confident and mature album. It is neither afraid to wear its influences on its sleeve nor to juxtapose the gentle and shoegazey with the harsh and darker edged, often together in songs like murder ballad Six Pieds Sous Terre and album closer Idealize. The latter could be Spiritualised on a particularly dark day, deep, darkly slow bass beats exploding into a wall of sound and then receding again just as quickly. They may not be music for a first date, but they're certainly worth a return visit.
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