Leisure Hive inhabit the same angst-ridden, writhing, body-strewn, sexual world as the likes of the Horatii and Placebo. Look, here they come: tip-toeing through the poppies and broken glass, instruments in hand and a crafty little grin on their faces.
'Brilliant Blonde' is the perfect opener, both live and for the album - instantly catchy and incessantly bouncy, it circles around an excellent riff before swooping in for the kill with the pounding chorus. And the rest of the album is equally as urgent, from the violin-coated and gently evolving 'Echo', through the nightmarish 'There Are Bodies', the curious soundscape of 'These Pulsating Men Of London', to the surprisingly heavy 'Art Pig', and the excellent title track.
The album's finest moment though, is also it's most subdued - there have been lots of great songs entitled 'Nothing', and Leisure Hive's is no exception. I guarantee you'll be singing along by the time the second sweet-scented chorus comes around.
Just as 'Brilliant Blonde' is the perfect opener, so 'Reveal' is the perfect closing number - Dan and the girls leaving us riding the crest of a tidal wave wrought from emotion, body parts and indeterminable liquids. Brilliant stuff.
Now, where was I? Oh yes. More jism vicar? (PB)
[1998]
