The Wombats

The Wombats are a three-piece band from Liverpool, an Indie band that have been together now since 2003. Having had three Top 40 singles from their début album, ‘A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation’ is an album which has brought great success to The Wombats and as far as I’m concerned this is nothing less than they deserve. Released in November 2007, their first album offering to date is thirteen tracks strong and consists of many fantastic tracks. Having been together for several years previous to recording this album has clearly benefited The Wombats greatly as they sound excellent in their ‘A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation’ album; a really tight unit performing perfectly together as a band.

After hearing their ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ single on the radio, I just had to get my hands on this album from The Wombats and am very glad that I did. This track really impressed me, and from the first time I ever heard it I was singing along by the end and tapping my feet frantically to the beat. It really is an instantly infectious Indie track and still remains to be one of my favourites from this album. Their other single ‘Moving To New York’ is another definite stand out track for me, one which I have worn out with continuous play over the last couple of months. I just never tire of the track and always enjoy singing and dancing along as the band blast their way through this one. The lyrics always bring a smile to my face, the guitars sound great, and the vocals are absolutely excellent. Everything about the track pleases me and I feel that I would find it hard to ever become bored of listening to it.

With ‘Moving To New York’ coming near the beginning, and ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ towards the middle, it should not be seen that these are the only stand out tracks from the album as this is really not the case. The album contains a great depth of quality, and many of the other tracks present on this album are hugely impressive. ‘Lost In The Post’ for example is an excellent track with a fantastic chorus also, I absolutely love the energetic ‘ Backfire at the Disco’, and ‘My First Wedding’ closes the album brilliantly. Basically, there is no track here that particularly disappoints and listening enjoyment can be gained from each and every one of the thirteen tracks here present. ‘Backfire at the Disco’ is a track which I feel captures the band at their very best, it is a fantastically catchy track and is perhaps even more so than either of the aforementioned tracks which have already been released as singles. If I were working for the record label I would definitely commission this one as the next to be lifted from the album as I feel that it is one which could perform extremely well as a single release and could even propel the band in to the Top 10 for the first time in their history.

‘A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation’ is the first album the band have ever released in the UK, however in 2006 they released an album in Japan only entitled ‘Girls, Boys and Marsupials’. It could therefore be seen perhaps then that this is the bands second album, however the fact that most of the tracks that were present on the Japan release are here also means that this is not really so. It would be foolish to argue that this is the bands second album when the track listing is largely the same, but what I will say is that ‘A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation’ is an album that you should really look to listen to. I am sure that there are many people out there that would be greatly impressed with the music that is on display on this album as there is never a dull moment with The Wombats and their tracks always possess plenty of life, character and charm. With such great energy and tremendously catchy tracks, The Wombats are a band that should go far and I for one can’t wait to hear more from them. This should be the start of a long and successful career for The Wombats; it’s taken them several years to hit the mainstream, but now that they’ve done so they should be here to stay.

Label: 14th Floor
Release Date: 5th November 2007

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