White Lies

As I Try Not To Fall Apart PIAS out now

★★★★★

The London trio surfed a wave of hype to No.1 with their 2009 debut album To Lose My Life… They have not matched that success on their subsequent four albums, but a loyal following has carried each of them to the top 20, at the very least. Often compared to the Joy Division-indebted Editors and Interpol, a song with a title such as Am I Really Going to Die sounds like a goth pastiche but is actually a funky piece of dark pop with urgent keys. I Don’t Want To Go To Mars is a Berlinera Bowie diversion, which also sounds like Duran Duran. Roll December is more muscular, like a track from The Top-era The Cure. I’m not sure if they were channelling the ’80s arena pop of INXS on Blue Drift but that’s what the results sound like. White Lies still have an identity problem 15 years into their career.