The Wombats
A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation
Warner


Liverpool, synonymous with skinheads, soccer and Sporty Spice, has surprisingly back flipped and spawned the UK's geekiest rock gods: The Wombats.

Their debut album, 'A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation' will have listeners either empathising with their adolescent experiences or on the verge of losing control with laughter, which is just as the band intends.

The prologue Tales of Girls, Boys And Marsupials sets the scene for the record as being reminiscent of a school musical, but without a teacher's heavy handed intervention. While it is questionable that anyone would use three geeky geezers for advice on love, tracks like Patricia The Stripper and School Uniforms make light of awkward situations while they musically deliver with catchy beats and nerdy backing vocals.

Let's Dance To Joy Division is clearly the album's drawcard but despite it being thrashed on the airways, the slightly off key guitar opening and controlled strain of the vocals render it compelling and essential summer listening. The record lapses momentarily when maturity creeps in to the lyrics with Moving to New York, but you'll be singing along to the reference to I'm A Little Teapot in Kill The Director before you know it.

Although they lack the lyrical and story-telling prowess of Arctic Monkeys, they make up for it with quirky one liners like 'flossing is the last thing in her health routine'. As any adolescent will attest, a track drenched in melancholy will always find its way to your heart - Here Comes The Anxiety does exactly that. Then, just like any self-respecting mood-swinger, the upbeat Backfire At The Disco will see you go from drowning your sorrows to laughing at your misfortunes. But if My First Wedding is anything to go by, the band's next album should see the bitterness that comes with age start to creep in that eventually creates grumpy grannies of us all.

Jocks beware: this record is definitely one for the Chess Club.

Lucinda Scarman