Still
one of my very favourite bands after all these years, any new Therapy? album is pretty much
guaranteed a spot on my list – the question is simply one of whereabouts. It’s
true that it’s been well over a decade since Therapy? made a bone fide masterpiece, but they’ve never phoned it
in either, and there’s always much to enjoy on every record. CLEAVE – album number 14 (I think, depending
on exactly how you count them) – continues
the recent trend, in that it is consistently excellent but also doesn’t get
especially close to the astronomically high standards they set in the 1990s. But
it does recall some of that 90s work more than the rest of their recent output.
CLEAVE is self-consciously a bit of a
throwback, particularly to their 1994 breakthrough album Troublegum. First off, 24 years on, they’ve rehired Chris Sheldon, who produced Troublegum. But more than that, the
songs have a similar tone and shape to those on that masterpiece, including
lyrically. It’s great to have this particular incarnation of Therapy? back, and, of their recent
work, this definitely feels the most ‘them’. At the same time, part of their
longstanding appeal for me is their continued chameleon-like tendencies. So I
have some mixed feelings about this record, but, as usual, overall I’ve loved
it.
sample track: Callow