Oh. My. Goth. Never mind flirting with foxy emo trappings; S.C.U.M.’s debut album hurtles head first into the heart of darkness and emerges as both brazenly untimely and sumptuously absurd. From the desperate BSP-visitthe-Clinic drama of ‘Faith Unfolds’ to ‘Summon The Sound’’s mélange of dazed fuzz, flaying military beats and serpentine sneer, it houses a relentless opening run of minor chords and major melancholy. The second half, meanwhile, is better still, taking in the piano-powered stateliness of ‘Paris’, ‘Water Guitar’’s translucent shimmer and ‘Sentinal Bloom’’s towering synths and measured psychosis. Clearly, we must fling this filth at our pop kids.

Iain Moffat