Fews – Means

Swedish/American four-piece Fews finally let loose over ten full tracks, after teasing music bloggers last year with tracks The Zoo and Ill. On debut record Means, both songs emerge present and correct from the gloom, making good on their promises to cause deep-seated, shattering damage: Industrial echoes ring out from behind tense, terse lyrics pronouncing that 'time is on my side,' as sprawls of icy feedback open up and raze the earth.

Means is shadowed and dizzying, sour and fleeting. The album captures the essence of an indie sound that's almost universally considered to be jaded, and proves that the genre may be weatherworn, but its framework is ripe for a renovation. So while there's a touch of Bloc Party's hey-day in the jittering hedonism of single 100 Goosebumps, Fews leave no stone unturned. Careful details like the post-dub inflected fade-out to 10 Things and the chilling, swinging hand-clap in Drinking Games ensure that MEANS retains all of the mystery and enigma that made this record so anticipated.