SOUND JUDGEMENT

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

W.L.

THE SNUTS

THE Snuts are proudly flying the flag for bands at a time when solo artists dominate. The indie four-piece from Whitburn, halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, built up a devoted fanbase through relentless touring and a series of rowdy singles.

Now their debut album arrives, 13 tracks custom built for singing along while punching the air, and they’ll be hoping their rescheduled autumn tour – including three sold-out gigs at Glasgow Barrowland – goes ahead.

WL starts unexpectedly with the low-key Top Deck before The Snuts hit their stride with the anthemic Always, driven by a nagging guitar riff, and the catchy All Your Friends.

Somebody Loves You is a love song that strays towards boyband territory, while Boardwalk is acoustic, Don’t Forget It (Punk) is aggressive, Coffee & Cigarettes as experimental as they get and last track Sing For Your Supper heads towards power ballad territory.

W.L. will give fans a soundtrack for counting down the days until the thrill of live music returns.

COURSE IN FABLE RYLEY WALKER

RYLEY WALKER may have jokingly described this as his “prog record”, but thankfully, the Chicago rocker’s rigorous approach to songwriting and his roots in jazz temper the genre’s self-indulgent tendencies.

Course In Fable looks back to the prog bands that emerged out of Chicago in the 1990s as Walker swings from the complexity of Yes! to gentle folk melodies.

Rarely do so many genres combine is such harmony.

SELECTED WORKS BOO HEWERDINE

MARK “BOO” HEWERDINE, lead singer of The Bible and one of the country’s most enduring singersongwriters, turned 60 in February.

Celebrating his legacy, Selected Works is a collection of 20 tracks sequenced by Reveal Records founder Tom Rose.

A handful of the songs were written over the last year, although only The Language of Love, which opens the album, could be considered inspired by lockdown.

Elsewhere, Cambridge-raised Hewerdine explores melodic folk with Brooks Williams on Why Does The Nightingale Sing? and chamber pop on An Atheist In A Foxhole.

Perhaps one of UK music’s most underrated musicians, Selected Works is an unrivalled entry point into his music.