We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls

We Were Promised Jetpacks couldn’t have timed it better. In the post-breakthrough hiatus of Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad, indie aficionados have been gantin’ for another tartan-clad troupe upon which to pin their adulation. This may well be that band. The Edinburgh quartet’s debut LP These Four Walls is a plastercast hybrid of their FatCat stablemates’ rugged soundscapes and self-effacing reportage. Yet, as compelling as Quiet Little Voices and Short Bursts are, a gnarling sense of over-appropriation permeates the record’s spine. Densely-produced guitar slasher Roll Up Your Sleeves unravels as unshapely shrill, while Conductor’s primitive vignettes disembowel the luscious melodic undertone of chime and strum. When they’re on the pulse it’s exhilarating – Keeping Warm’s cacophonous eight-minute flurry is a breathtaking sonic throb - but too much is weighed down by hurried expectancy. Perhaps the promise of jetpacks has arrived just a little too soon.