Dodgy

What Are We Fighting For? (Cherry Red Records)

If you’re familiar with Dodgy’s recent work, then this album will need no introduction. The breezy, summery sound that accompanied their days running parallel to the Britpop scene has been largely replaced by one that draws strongly on Sixties rock, with The Who and The Eagles, along with gentle Beach Boys harmonies showing throughout the album.

Take some big guitar and drum sounds, throw in some gentle picked guitar, add the occasional Stone Roses-style bass line and selection of dramatic keyboard chords and you’ve got the recipe for What Are We Fighting For? The band have grown up as a tight musical unit, the lack of personnel changes giving a solidarity that they can play from and draw down into a cohesive sound that is uniquely theirs, but which is also familiar.

Not the normal Scootering fare, granted, but a very worthwhile purchase from a band that have stuck to their guns and done their own thing rather than cash in on their sadly brief day in the sun.