We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls

Futureheads-style “oh oh oh oh’s” combine with the satisfying, hearing-aids-here-we-come noise of multiple, overlaid guitars on max distortion. In a similar vein to Frightened Rabbit‘s excellent album, The Midnight Organ Fight, We Were Promised Jetpack’s concussive rhythms form a robust backbone that helps to keep the album standing, despite its occasional low episodes.

Moving Clocks Run Slow is another immediate dose of pretty-close-to-perfect indie-pop, worked around simple riffs and bopping rhythms. The album’s only disappointment, Keeping Warm, is an eight minute long attempt to turn a pop album into something more. However, its forging of several half-ideas into one long track feels like an unnecessary addition.

There’s nothing particularly complex or erudite about These Four Walls. Instead, We Were Promised Jetpacks prefer to rely on things a little closer to hand and a little closer to home. While its emotions are often very raw and its lyrical disclosures seem uncomfortably close to the bone, the album always feels more exciting than it does lugubrious. These Four Walls is rousing, pop-like in its immediacy and pretty damn enjoyable. We should welcome such brave Scottish hearts.