Freak Waves

Two years on from the garage fuzz of debut Youth Is Wasted (Japanese Knotweed), and following on from last year's jangle pop mini-odyssey Dead Seas (Fountain Tesserae, Peripheral Vision), Freak Waves, the third album from Sea Pinks, is the fullest realisation of their sound so far. From pristine guitar pop (A Pattern Recognition, Shrinking Violet) to full-blooded brooding (False Spring, Subliminal Messaging) to the epic closer of the title track and all points in between, this is the band at their most dynamic. And while the songs seem to dwell on disillusion, broken communication, and ambivalence in general; the bright, buoyant melodies therein perform the perfect counterweight.