The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love

The whole point of history is that it shouldn't repeat itself. Time chewed up, spat out and chose to forget the eighties because the space in between apocalyptic visions of HIV epidemics and endless Thatcherite governments was filled by Smash Hits, MTV and Simon Le Bon. Popular culture offered no lasting satisfaction beyond three minute thirty second segments designed to cater to your carnal instincts.

Shoegaze in the later part of the decade acted as an essential counterpoint this manifesto. Turning the amp levels up to 11 and bathing an often inventive sense of melody within a heavy shroud of feedback meant no teenie bopper was ever likely to trade in her seven inch of Girls On Film for a copy of the Ride EP.

As Sid Vicious aptly demonstrated during his brief stint in the Sex Pistols however, volume is no substitute for talent. In fact the restrictions caused by using a wall of sound can often only serve to hem the artist in a tightly defined parameter. Furthermore, The Big Pink haven't made things any easier for themselves by creating a concept album based on a chemical imbalance.

When a pained Robbie Furze proclaims on Velvet "I'm not looking for love, but it's hard to resist / I don't recall, me and mistakes", it would be easy to misread lofty ambition as overreaching bluster. Yet where similar revivalists The Horrors and The Twilight Sad have faltered this London duo manage to extract an even greater palette from white noise.

Opening track Crystal Visions aptly clicks the wheels of aural cut and thrust into motion but A Brief History really kicks into life with the crunching Too Young To Love. Sounding exactly like the rigid two fingered salute Kevin Shields would have offered up had he to suffer the torment of La Roux, it shudders along on a pounding rhythm, never threatening to relinquish its grip on your consciousness until squealing out of sight again.

Dominos further draws you into the digital mesh with an infectious chorus and pitch perfect production job done by Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell in which you can hear each jagged beat drop into the razor wire haystack. The latter’s time at the helm of noise-rock label Merok has obviously had a lasting effect, Golden Pendulum recalls the same spaced out tranquillity as Klaxons' Two Receivers whilst Count Backwards From Ten contains the frequency bending tenacity which Crystal Castles hold so dear.

As such it's a stunning debut that pitches itself between the anthemic sing-alongs of Glasvegas and the sonic mastery of My Bloody Valentine. The title track in particular goes beyond the deliberate subversiveness of lesser Camden Kool Things, finding calm within the chaos to slow the onslaught and reflect on the LPs common thread. Musing on the aftermath of a break up "a beautiful smile bent out of shape, is this the road to heaven that you wanted to take?" proves a devastatingly simple couplet.

Whilst 2009 may bordering on parody of 1989, The Big Pink make you glad that history has repeated itself. A Brief History Of Love isn't the next Definitely Maybe designed to unite a factioned youth in one boozy chorus. It sets out its stall as an outsider from the beginning, threatening to fall on its sword before surrendering to the everyman's whim. It is a record that proves that battle to be worth fighting.

9/10