Man Alive (Import)

Import! 'Thanks to the slackers, there are three dirty words in indie right now: ambition, intellect and effort. Everything Everything don't just fit those terms, they pole-vault over them. It probably goes some way to explaining why, over the past nine months, they've not become the chart-bothering megastars they deserve to be. You might think that's nonsense - Foals took great pains to namedrop highfalutin composer Philip Glass around , and the biggest influence on These New Puritans' was 16th century choral music. It doesn't get much more intentionally intellectual than that, and both albums did well. But the difference is that these weren't their debuts. They snared their audience on their first records, which were still clever but playful, giving them a solid fanbase to lead into uncharted, potentially pretentious territory. In comparison, EE and their clever debut seem like the annoying new kid at school who shows off how smart they are. But what's overlooked by those quick to shout "PRETENTIOUS!" is that they truly excel at having fun. Amid the Beyoncé-does-barbershop singing, XTC riffs and mondegreen lyrics, it's the central artery that runs through every aspect of Man Alive. Despite suffering from a flattening re-master of the original single, opener "MY KZ, YR BF" tells of getting caught shagging someone else's lady in tones that veer from frightened monkey whimpering to cuckoo-clock R&B harmonies. They even manage to top fellow pop perverts Wild Beasts in the sublimely ridiculous stakes – "Photoshop Handsome" is about an existential crisis triggered by airbrush trickery, and "Come Alive Diana" sounds like the theme tune to a game show where contestants compete to resurrect the deceased princess. At no detriment to their songwriting abilities, if you're taking this seriously then you deserve to be condemned to a lifetime of proud meatheaded cock-rock.' - Laura Snapes / NME