Strangelove - Love and Other Demons (Food) The epic, 66-minute debut from Strangelove, Time for the Rest of Your Life, oozed talent, its dark, brooding songs carefully crafted and singer Patrick Duff's funereal bass perfectly suited to the sombre lyrics.
Love and Other Demons attains similar heights, with the same beautiful hybrid of punchy, indie guitar rock, and delicate and sometimes gothic piano and strings. Like the Blue Aeroplanes meets the blackest parts of the Damned's Black Album.
There is perhaps slightly more levity (comparatively), such as the quirky 20th Century Cold, and plenty of the same darkly pretty tunes. Beautiful Alone is surefire single material, sounding like the moodier cousin of 1980s act ABC.
Strangelove are also masters of the crescendo - Casualties starts calmly, but climaxes with a cascade of grinding power chords.
It is perhaps not surprising that the Suede-esque and haunting She's Everywhere benefits from backing vocals by Brett Anderson, with a don't-look-behind-you melody that would do Portishead proud.
Strangelove are not afraid to cross-pollenate styles or be accused of being 'soft', and the results are sometimes fantastic. This is grown-up music which makes most Brit-pop efforts sound like Disney tunes.