Sorry, 925 - album review
North Londoners Sorry have released their debut record and have done a sterling job at keeping everything genre-fluid so they cannot be pigeon-holed.
Yes, they will fall under the gargantuan, clunky modern umbrella which is 'indie'. But there's so much at odds with one another in here. The five-piece have successfully woven together a 'teenage' album in the sense that it jumps from one idea to another - it alters its image, sticks two fingers up to something it previously did and then throws a new idea into the melting pot.
Creatively, these guys are wizard-like. Nothing is out of bounds because where are the bounds set? In Sorry's case, nowhere.
Yes, some people prefer an image. An idea and a direction that sticks from start to finish and can be filed succinctly in alongside other records of a similar style they already own. But the beauty of this idea, overseen by James Dring (Gorillaz, Jamie T), is that anything is possible. Anything goes. And absolutely nobody can tell them otherwise.
For example, there's huge, haunting swathes of In Unison that would have made Liars' spines tingle. Weaving, slowly building verses suddenly open into a thumping and encroaching guitar-percussion stomp that could occupy any spectral house.
Then on the aptly named Starstruck we flirt with the kind of laid-back electro guitar fare The XX made their name with. Throughout this record, the male-female vocals of Louis O’Bryen and Asha Lorenz entwine well and this is perhaps their pinnacle together.
They're at it again on the jangly, jagged Perfect. It's a song that bounces and bangs off itself with playful willingness. Warped guitars and thumping percussion from Lincoln Barrett make this one of the more riotous numbers on the album - but mainly because it just lets the seriousness drop for a second and shows a more playful streak.
Lorenz goes full Karen O on Rock 'n' Roll Star by throwing caution to the wind and letting her voice wobble like the queen of guitar rock vocals from Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
And the bounding outro to More needs to be heard too - more than a hint of early Interpol in there.
See? Different sounds around every corner. And hopefully they'll be given a chance to expand on that further.
Rating: 6/10
Sorry were due to play Birmingham's Hare & Hounds on May 5, but this has been postponed until later in the year due to the Covid-19 outbreak
