★★★★☆
It’s been five years since You Am I last put out a new album, and while some of the intervening time was spent looking back (both through reissues and album playback shows), those hoping the trip down memory lane might inspire a return to the sounds ofHi Fi WayorHourly, Dailyprobably need to stop living in the past and get out more.
Porridge & Hotsauce, the band’s tenth studio effort, is a set of tunes that pack quite a kick. The opening trio of ‘Good Advices’, ‘Bon Vivants’ and ‘No, A Minor Blue’ are a masterclass in strutting power-pop, while ‘Two Hands’ finds Tim Rogers tapping back into the soul well he explored on his other release for 2015, the collaboration with The Bamboos, The Rules Of Attraction.
It’s not all rockers, of course, as ‘One Drink At A Time’ and ‘Daemons’ take a turn into a lusher, more introspective territory. Guitarist Davey Lane gets to step into the lead singer’s position for the first time on a couple of tracks, the frenetic ‘Out To The Never, Now’ and the snotty ‘Buzz The Boss’.
You Am I have delivered their best album in a decade. It’s the sound of a revitalised band firing on all cylinders.
You Am I’sPorridge & Hotsauce is available throughYou Am I/Inertia.
